From The Darkness Came The Light
by Animus of Masada
Summary: Orochimaru succeeds in summoning the Fourth Hokage during the Sound Invasion, but Minato has too much to live for to be subjugated so easily. Fighting his way back to life, he reunites with his family for the first time in twelve years. Minato/Kush alive
1. Ashes to Life, Dust to Hope

A/N: Story Synposis: Orochimaru succeeds in summoning the Fourth Hokage during the Sound Invasion, but Minato has too much to live for to be subjugated so easily. Fighting his way back to life, he reunites with his family for the first time in twelve years.

This is an idea that's been circulating in my head for a couple days, so I wanted to give it a shot.

I will NOT be abandoning The Seeds We Sow or put it on indefinite hiatus like I did with They Were Legends; I've just hit some writer's block in that story and hopefully this will help with that.

Please review!

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**From The Darkness Came The Light Chapter 1: Ashes to Life, Dust to Hope**

From the light came darkness, and from the darkness came the light once more. A heavy wooden door fell to the ground in front of him, slowly revealing the world he had once witnessed as a member of the living. Uwillingly stepping out of the upright coffin, the Fourth Hokage's eyes fell upon a man he had once bade farewell to: Hiruzen Sarutobi, his predecessor and the Third Hokage. Recognizing his surroundings as that of Konoha almost immediately, Minato Namikaze longed to move, to figure out what was going on, but his body would not obey him.

And suddenly whatever joy that the moment held was gone, for Minato felt more dead than he had ever been.

A voice spoke up from behind him. "It's been a long time, eh, Monkey?"

Another voice, this one of a lighter and less amused tone, spoke next.. "Oh, it's you…you've grown old, haven't you, Sarutobi…"

The Fourth watched as his predecessor spoke. "I would not have thought I would meet with you three again in a situation like this…it is regrettable. Please make your preparations to be defeated."

Minato wanted to scream with all of the effort he was exerting into merely moving his own body. It was as if he were a mere puppet, held in place by strings. After managing to turn around through willpower alone, he came face to face with the First and Second Hokage, who seemed more interested in the one behind them. "Impure World Resurrection, huh? This youngster is the one who summoned us with this taboo art…he's quite something."

The First realized the implications immediately. "If that's so, then I guess that would mean that we would have to fight against you, Sarutobi…"

Minato's mind raced as he tried to figure a way out of the situation. He recognized the man behind the summoning immediately: Konoha's White Snake, Orochimaru. While his facial expression remained stoic, his mind reeled in horror as the missing-nin forced two kunai, each attached to a seal, into the heads of his predecessors. Orochimaru then moved to do the same to him…

_Like hell!_ Mustering every bit of determination, his thoughts drifted to the things he held dear: his village, his friends, and most of all, his _son_. With that last thought overpowering his emotions, he managed to finally regain control over his body…and not a moment too soon. Orochimaru scowled at him as he landed somewhere between his only ally and enemies in the current fight.

Hiruzen immediately joined him, hitting him with a special contract seal, removing the traitor's ability to dispel his summon. "Minato," he whispered, "I don't believe our predecessors can be defeated through conventional means…I'll hold them off while you take care of Orochimaru, if you can do that."

The blond was about to tell him that he damn well _couldn't_ do that; he could barely move as it was. Minato felt more like a slightly animate undead than his old self.

The missing-nin in question simply chuckled. "You think that consolation prize of a Hokage can compare to any of us? You have become most foolish over the years, old man." Forming a seal with his hands, the White Snake continued boasting. "I'll need my summons to be in their original forms, after all. How interesting it will be to see all of the Hokage fight to the death!" With the final seal, the weariness and discoloring of the summons disappeared, revealing each of the summoned Hokage to be in their prime.

_Finally,_ Minato thought, _this is more like it._ Feeling alive once again, Minato drew one of his special space-time kunai. "The plan, then?" Hiruzen nodded. The old man ran forward, weaving a series of seals faster than most shinobi could track, and spat out an intense stream of flame at his student.

Not wasting any time on contemplating the bizarreness of the situation, Minato sprang into action. Leaping upward, he saw that the Second had defended with a circular wall of water. Chucking his kunai behind the missing-nin as the Second followed up with a violent water dragon, the Yellow Flash of Konoha used his signature technique for the first time in twelve years.

Orochimaru seemed prepared for this, however, and lashed out with a snake as he spun around to counter. _Snakes? Why did it have to be SNAKES?_ Minato dodged by shifting his head as the snake bit the newly vacated air. He instantly formed a Rasengan in his palm, swinging it at the snake summoner with no warning. The chakra ball impacted the missing-nin's chest, scattering the organs of his lower torso. Before he could follow up, the First caught him off guard with a sudden backhand, sending him several feet away. As he looked up at his handiwork, his expression turned to one of shock as a _new_ Orochimaru spewed out from the now-enlarged mouth of the mangled body. _I should have known it wouldn't be that easy._

A giant black staff swung and knocked the Second to the side, causing the First to turn his attention to Hiruzen, who now retracted the Monkey King Enma's staff form.

Minato collected himself and analyzed the situation. As a Hokage and seal master, he had studied the Impure World Summoning Resurrection technique in detail. Even if he managed to kill that snake of a man, the summons would remain and follow their implanted instructions. The only way to take them out would be to remove their souls from the sacrificial vessels through sealing. Unfortunately, that could not be done until their summoner was removed from the equation. Orochimaru was obviously something less than human, and could withstand injuries that almost no one else could. Only a quick, decisively lethal blow would do.

Orochimaru, however, was not about to make the same mistake twice. A snake emerged from his mouth, spitting out a shining sword into the missing-nin's hand. "The blade of Kusanagi," he said amusedly, "is more than you deserve. Consider yourself honored."

Throwing his kunai straight at his opponent, Minato's eyes picked out every detail. As the snake moved to block the kunai with his sword, Minato teleported behind his opponent via the sealed kunai, and stabbed the missing-nin in the back of the head. Only his extremely keen instincts saved him from being impaled through the back of the skull as his apparent victim began to turn into mud. Teleporting to the sealed kunai he had thrown a moment ago, Minato dodged the blade of Kusanagi by a hair's breadth.

"Enough!" shouted the snake nin. Biting his thumb, he slammed his palm into the ground, and out of the smoke rose five man-sized snakes, all staring at the blond as if he was their first meal in days.

Which, he deduced, was probably true. _Time to take it up a notch_. Forming a few hand seals, Minato swung his palms in a horizontal semicircle in front of him, creating a slicing blade of wind. Orochimaru jumped clear, but his snakes were not so mobile or intelligent. With them cut down, Minato turned his attention back towards his original opponent. Three hand seals later, a jet of water shot out at the snake summoner, who dodged in midair with his inhumanly flexible form. The water technique was a ruse, however, as Minato teleported to the sealed kunai hidden within it, Rasengan raging in his palm.

Orochimaru's face showed true fear in that moment, but was able to avoid the type of blow that would be the end of him. As his devastated body shot to the ground, Minato didn't let up for a second. Weaving a few hand seals faster than an average blink, the blond inhaled a small gush of air before exhaling several bullet-like spheres of air at the snake summoner. Orochimaru once again escaped demise by the skin of his teeth, and quickly spewed a new body from the previous one. Almost before he could react, the Yellow Flash was upon him, swinging his kunai straight at the traitor's face. Orochimaru managed to dodge, but Minato chucked the kunai at the end of his quick swing, allowing him to teleport behind the snake Sannin. As the Fourth grabbed Orochimaru's shoulder and forced him down, the blond aimed another Rasengan at the White Snake's head.

A last second replacement technique saved the snake, but now Orochimaru's face could not hide his fear at facing an opponent he had so drastically underestimated. In straight up combat, he could not defeat, let alone survive long against, the Yellow Flash. But he was not known as a snake for nothing; his underhanded tactics were a part of why he was legendary. If one cannot defeat a superior opponent in a fair battle, then all one needed to do was attack them where mere strength and power would not matter. Orochimaru had done extensive research of the Hokage he planned to use as his tools, and knew many of their secrets. He had prided himself in his extensive spy network, after all. There was one major weakness the Yellow Flash had that few people knew about: Uzumaki Kushina. The menacing blond had a lover who died on the same night as he had.

Surely such a man could not bring himself to fight the woman he loved? It was the perfect weakness, the kind that amused Orochimaru to no end. And now…the perfect opportunity had arisen. Summoning one more coffin from the ground, the snake nearly giggled with glee at what was about to befall his enemy.

Minato's eyes widened in shock and fear as the coffin lid fell to the ground, revealing the decrepit form of his late wife, Kushina. Not wasting any time with preamble, Orochimaru immediately restored Kushina to her original form, hoping that he could turn his opponent's emotions towards fear and horror instead of anger, for the latter really could have backfired on him.

Drawing another sealed kunai, Orochimaru moved to embed it into his latest summon. Minato, however, had other plans. For Orochimaru had failed to discover one _other_, crucial secret.

Kushina had the Hiraishin seal—the basis of his signature teleportation technique—placed on her skin along with the eight trigrams seal that once marked her as a jinchuuriki, a host of a great tailed beast. The Yellow Flash was renowned not just for his teleportation, but for his raw speed and reaction time as well. Teleporting to her side instantly, Minato forced her down to the ground, out of Orochimaru's immediate reach. Before the Snake Sannin could counter, the pair had already teleported a short distance away.

Kushina, her expression fearful, confused, and groggy, looked at her husband. "Minato…what…?"

The blond knew better than to take his eyes off his opponent. He placed a contract seal on his wife just as Sarutobi had done for him a mere minute ago, allowing her to be completely free of the White Snake's control. "We've been summoned by that traitor over there, and we need to take him down. There's no time to explain further."

Nodding in understanding, Kushina stood up, sparing only a quick look at her surroundings. "The usual, Minato-kun?" she asked with a smirk.

Her husband returned it. "The usual."

Chakra chains erupted from Kushina's body, encircling the surprised Sannin. Minato rushed in, teleporting to his thrown kunai in an instant. Now behind the distracted snake summoner, Minato formed a Rasengan. Orochimaru, unable to body flicker through the 'cage' of chakra chains, performed a replacement to escape the lethal ball of spinning chakra. But with almost no room to maneuver, the replacement could only buy him a few seconds at best.

Weaving hand seals for a technique in those few seconds he had, Orochimaru didn't see the true threat of the Namikaze duo's tactics. A chakra chain, each of which was tipped with a sharp, potent chakra blade, impaled the Sannin from behind. Shocked, Orochimaru let his guard down a split second to see what had so improbably struck him, and that split second was all Minato needed to deliver the instantly lethal blow he had been aiming for from the start.

The Rasengan had the tendency to make a mess out of its targets, and the White Snake was no exception. This time, at least, Minato _knew_ he would not be coming back.

"OROCHIMARU-SAMA!" shouted a frantic, spider-like man holding up a corner of the barrier. Kushina and her husband paid him no mind as they continued the fight.

A few seconds of checking for a replacement later, Minato and Kushina turned their attention to the remaining threats: the First and Second Hokage. Hiruzen was managing well enough on his own, but he did not seem to be able to go on the offensive between the impressive techniques of the Senju brothers.

With only a quick nod to each other, Minato and Kushina joined the fray. With the element of surprise, Kushina was able to ensnare the Second with her chakra chains. Hiruzen understood immediately, and focused his attention on keeping the First busy while Minato incapacitated the Second with a reverse contract seal. As the seal began to take effect, the Second's body began to fade. In his last moments, Tobirama Senju smiled at his successor before vanishing into dust with the wind.

Hashirama Senju, more commonly known as the First Hokage, was a much more difficult opponent to take down. His wood element techniques were an effective counter against Kushina's chakra chains, forcing her to resort to fire techniques instead.

Engaging the First in his preferred fighting style, Minato teleported in and out of reach, preventing his opponent from performing more significant wood techniques. Outnumbered by the three, Hashirama was eventually forced into submission, and given the same seal as his late brother.

Now, having lost all hope entirely, the Sound Four disengaged the barrier and immediately retreated into the forest. The ANBU captain and his team gave pursuit of one of the members, but Minato and Kushina had other things to worry about.

As the blond stared at his hands in wonder, Hiruzen approached his successor. "In case you're wondering, Minato, you won't fade away like Hashirama and Tobirama. The seals Orochimaru placed on them were designed to turn them into mindless killing machines, thereby destroying the essence of their souls, at least as far as their trip to the living world is concerned. Since you two did not suffer the same fate, and because the contract between you and your summoner was broken, you are essentially free. Your bodies were returned to their original form by Orochimaru, thus making you both…living human beings once again. It was not without sacrifice, but knowing my awry student," he said, his facial expression darkening, "he would not hesitate to sacrifice the lives of a few of his subordinates for more powerful tools."

Husband and wife looked at each other, smiling in both relief and joy as tears spilled from their eyes. Hiruzen smiled at their warm, loving embrace, reflecting on how much he had missed these two over the past twelve years.

A huge puff of smoke in the distance shook him from these thoughts. "Minato, Kushina-san, I think it would be best if the reunion were to wait until after the invasion is dealt with."

Suddenly aware of their surroundings, Kushina and Minato took a look around. "Invasion?" she asked. "What is going on?"

Hiruzen could only frown as he relayed the news. "Suna and Oto have launched a surprise invasion during the Chunin Exams—" as he glanced back at that huge puff of smoke, he only now realized what was going on out there. "Oh my…"

The couple followed his stares to see a giant toad—Gamabunta—standing off against what they all recognized as the fully transformed One-Tailed Shukaku of the sands.

"What should we do, Hiruzen-sama?" asked the blond.

The man in question quickly surveyed the village, taking note of the panic in the Oto and Suna forces. "Our enemies appear to be retreating, or at least in a state of panic. Minato, you entering the battle would certainly tip the scales fully into our favor. As for the One-Tails…" He glanced back towards the giant toad, which was now fighting the Shukaku in close combat, but he could not finish the sentence.

"Hiruzen-sama, I'll go and help out our forces at once." Minato turned to his wife, his smile full of concern. "Kushina-chan, stay safe, no matter what…please."

Her smile overshadowed his own as she gave him a chaste kiss. "I will, Minato-kun."

Just like his moniker suggested, Minato was gone in a flash.

Before Kushina and Hiruzen could decide what to do on the matter of the One-Tails, the battle between the giants intensified. Huge blasts of wind and water collided, leaving both spectators in wonder. Moments later, their jaws hit the floor as the _Nine-tails_ emerged from the giant plume of smoke that the toad occupied a moment earlier. As memories of that dreaded October 10th came flooding back to them both, Kushina suddenly gasped, now remembering all about her son, whom she had not had time to think about in the heat of the moment.

The 'Nine-tails' latched on to the Shukaku, and then another huge puff of smoke revealed that the giant toad was merely under a transformation technique. Half a minute later, the One-Tailed Shukaku began to collapse into a mound of sand.

"Who _was_ that?" asked Kushina.

Hiruzen could only stare at the battlefield blankly. "Jiraiya, I'm sure. He's the only one who can summon toads these days, and definitely the only one with the guts to take on a tailed beast by himself."

Satisfied with the answer, Kushina fidgeted nervously as she asked a very different question. "My son…where is my son?"

The Third Hokage smiled warmly at her. "Your son was participating in the Chunin Exams when they were interrupted by the invasion. He won his first match, blowing away everyone's expectations, including mine. It was quite the fight."

Kushina lowered her head as a tear strolled down her cheek. She tried picturing her baby boy, now much older, fighting his way through the Chunin Exams…it was both heartwarming and depressing for her at the same time. A few moments later, she was able to look the Hokage back in the eye. "Is he safe right now?"

Hiruzen didn't pretend to know the answer. "I wish I could say, but I was engaged with Orochimaru since the moment the invasion started. I have no idea what happened to him, but his jonin sensei is one of the best there is; he wouldn't let anything happen to his students. And judging by the way things are going down there, there isn't much we can do now anyway. Your husband seems to be living up to his reputation quite nicely."

She lightly chuckled in response. For now, she reveled at every sight, every smell, and the knowledge that she was once again _alive_. But most importantly…she could always be there for her son, from now on. She could be with her family, like she could only dream of on the night she died. With those thoughts in mind, he smile was overrun with tears of joy.

00.000.00

Seeing the Yellow Flash enter the battle for Konoha was beyond surreal for everyone involved, but the reactions were _quite_ different, depending on whose side one was on.

For Konoha ninja, there was the initial disbelief, which was quickly replaced by joy and relief as the legend began tearing through the enemy nin.

For the invading ninja, there was only sheer terror as Konoha's Yellow Flash began taking them out left and right. Within minutes, the invading forces began a full, panicked retreat.

00.000.00

Jiraiya nearly fell to his knees in disbelief when rumors of the 'return of the Yellow Flash' hit his ears. Rushing to the stadium as quickly as he could, his voice completely failed him when he saw his student and Kushina standing right there, alive and well. A small crown of Konoha ninja were gathered around them, though kept a respectful distance.

When pinching himself did not satisfy his concerns of it all being a dream, he approached them.

Minato saw him first. "Sensei!" he shouted happily, and ran up to hug the white-haired Sannin.

The toad sage managed to return the embrace, albeit slowly. "Minato…how?"

"I guess I should be thanking your snake-loving teammate for this one, sensei."

Jiraiya's face lit up in recognition. "Orochimaru? Is he—"

"Dead," Hiruzen curtly replied. For a few moments, teacher and student bowed their heads in respect to the man they still cared about, even today. "Good work, by the way, in dealing with the One-Tailed Shukaku. You never cease to impress," he said, chuckling.

While Jiraiya tried to process his confusion, a silver haired jonin ran up to the group. "_Sensei?_" Kakashi looked at the man he had long known as dead, his one visible eye wide in shock.

Minato ruffled his student's hair. "It's good to see you again, Kakashi. How long has it been?"

The copy ninja could only whisper in wonder. "Twelve years, sensei…how…?"

The Toad Sannin finally managed to find his voice. "Minato, Sensei, I don't know what you're talking about! I never fought the One-Tails! I didn't even know it was _here_ in the first place!"

All eyes were on the supposedly only summoner of toads now. "How is that possible?" asked a confused Hiruzen. "Gamabunta was summoned!"

Jiraiya looked at them all blankly before suddenly erupting into a huge laughing fit. As the rest of the group looked on in bewilderment, the toad sage recomposed himself. "Well I'll be damned, that kid _really_ has some guts."

"What are you talking about, Jiraiya?" asked the Third.

The white-haired Sannin looked up at him, grinning. "About a month ago, I had Naruto sign the summoning contract."

Everyone else could only gape as the realization hit them. _Naruto…managed to summon the toad boss and defeat a tailed beast…at _twelve_ years old!_ thought Kushina. The boy's parents swelled with pride while Hiruzen and Kakashi could not pick their jaws up from the floor. Minato's eyes began to water at the thought of his son, the baby he had not been able to see grow up…but now he could be there. Now…

"I…" Kakashi feebly said, "I had no idea Gaara was the One-Tails jinchuuriki…I can't believe I sent them after him…"

"YOSH!" yelled a green clad ninja from behind Kakashi. "Then we shall find them immediately! Let us make this a challenge, my eternal rival! Whoever find them first wi—" Gai looked back at his rival, finding him noticeably absent. As his gaze reached the Fourth Hokage, Minato merely pointed over his shoulder towards a hole in the stadium wall with a blank expression. "How devious of you, my eternal rival!" he shouted, racing through the hole.

Minato turned towards his predecessor. "If you don't mind, Kushina and I are going to join the search. I trust everything else can wait?"

"I'm going to have to join you on that hunt," said a cheerful Jiraiya. With a nod from the Third, the group set out.

00.000.00

Kakashi, with his well-trained sense of smell, was able to track down his team first. Smelling Asuma's scent near Shikamaru's, he deduced that they were not in need of immediate assistance and continued on until he reached his students.

At first glance, he was very worried…but his senses kicked in a moment later, telling him that both Naruto and Sakura were alive. "Sasuke…is everyone alright?"

Dazed, the Uchiha could only nod. Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder while giving his characteristic 'eye-smile.' "Good work, Sasuke. You all did great."

Instead of smiling at the compliment, Sasuke looked down, brooding. Before he could question any further, Gai burst into the clearing. "It seems you have beaten me this time, my eternal rival! Tomorrow, I will run 200 laps around Kono—"

"QUIET!" Kushina yelled as she pounded the top of his head.

"Kushina…you have no idea how awesome you are for doing that," commented Kakashi, who actually gave a short laugh.

Minato and Kushina, however, could only stare at the unconscious form of their son. Tears instantly fell from their eyes as they took in his appearance. Kushina let out something between laughs and sobs as she knelt next to her son. Minato followed moments later.

Sasuke, reeling at the sight of the legendary and long dead Fourth Hokage, stared in wonder.

Kakashi performed a quick check up on Naruto after Sakura, assuring the parents that he was fine, just exhausted. "He may look just like you, sensei, but he's all Kushina in everything else."

The parents' smiles grew and their tears flowed in earnest.

Beginning to put the pieces together, Sasuke tried to sort out the impossibility that was in front of him. _What they're saying…the way they're acting…it's as if he's their _son_…but that's impossible! There's no way the dead last could be the son of the Fourth Hokage!_ _And I thought he was dead, anyway!_

Kushina, mixed emotions overwhelming her completely, began sobbing as she took her son's limp hand. The boy was wearing a ridiculous orange jumpsuit, but he _still_ looked just like his father. The parents melted into each other as the pulled the unconscious Naruto into their embrace. For the first time, they could truly act like a family.

Standing by the sidelines, Jiraiya smiled at the reunion before him. As tears rolled down his cheeks, he could safely say that this was one of the happiest moments in his life—and he would bet a substantial amount of money that Minato and Kushina would say the same.

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**A/N: Please let me know what you think!**

Reviews are both my motivation and inspiration. Without them, updates will be few and far between.


	2. Of Shock and Ramen

A/N: Thank you guys for the reviews!

Please let me know what you think!

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**Chapter 2: Of Shock and Ramen**

Waiting inside Naruto's hospital room, his parents, Team 7, Jiraiya, and Hiruzen discussed how best to break the news to the young blond.

Sasuke and Sakura, however, were more than curious as to what that news was in the first place.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you two to leave," Hiruzen said as he eyed the two. "There classified matters here to discuss, and…personal ones as well." Though their curiosity was now piqued, they had no desire to disobey their Hokage and left. "With that out of the way, we can get down to more serious matters. Minato, Kushina-san…" He sighed, knowing what he was about to say would cause the two a great deal of guilt and turmoil. "After you died, I decided it was best that Naruto's heritage be kept a secret, for many reasons. Without your protection, he was an easy target for your old enemies looking for revenge, and thus goes by the surname of Uzumaki. I promised myself that I would tell him the truth when he was older, but right now, he had absolutely no idea who his parents are."

For the parents who never got to be a true family, this was yet another blow to their heavy hearts. They were, however, able to understand his reasoning on the matter. With a nod from Minato, the Third continued. "The worst part, however, is that initially, most of the villagers saw Naruto as something of a shell for the Nine-Tails itself, and took their resentment and bitterness out on the boy." Their shocked and horrified expressions told Hiruzen that it would be best to continue this part to the end as quickly as possible. "Naruto suffered from their hatred, I cannot deny that…though I was able to protect him from most physical harm, the emotional and psychological damage is nonetheless significant." Taking note of the clenched fists of his successor and gritted teeth of the redhead, he kept going. "Still, Naruto has grown into a good natured boy, who is surprisingly able to deal with emotional and psychological problems despite his young age. I have no doubt that a short time with you two would help him in more ways than you could imagine."

Trying to process what the Third was telling her was difficult in many ways for Kushina. Her baby had been seen as the monster he kept imprisoned…the worst fate for a jinchuuriki. As the former jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails herself, she could almost understand how terrible that would be. But what he said last gave her some hope that perhaps he withstood that adversity well enough for her to help her son in time.

"It is a village law that no one who knows about Naruto's status as a jinchuuriki is allowed to tell someone who does not. Naruto did not know about it himself until a few months ago, when he graduated from the Academy through…unconventional means. Since then, he has proved himself to be a remarkable boy. Through his will to never give up, he has gradually changed the village's opinion of him for the better. I can think of no greater example of this than yesterday's events, where after winning his first round match in the Chunin Exams finals, the entire stadium erupted in cheers and applause. I think that by now, most of the villagers view him in a positive, or at least indifferent light. No doubt after word has spread of his victory over Suna's own jinchuuriki, his reputation will benefit even more."

Relief spilled over the parents as this news hit them. The outrage that had been building up in their minds had been stagnated, much to Hiruzen's relief. "Minato, Kushina-san, I humbly ask you to give the villagers a second chance…their opinions and treatment of Naruto were unjustified and wrong, but they have changed a great deal over a short period of time. Naruto is also a very forgiving person, and I doubt he holds any grudges towards them. In my opinion, his efforts to prove himself to the villagers were vindicated, in his eyes, when he received cheers and applause yesterday after winning his match. That alone has undoubtedly helped him a great deal psychologically."

Minato and Kushina's anger gradually faded away. They considered the fact that the villagers seemed to be redeeming themselves slowly but surely, and if Naruto was willing to forgive, then they should too. "There is one last thing I must suggest, however," said Hiruzen. "Naruto does know that you, Minato, were the one to seal the Nine-Tails into him. He still looks up to the Fourth Hokage as a hero and his idol in spite of that, but how he would react to you being his father is unknown. I think it best to wait outside until he has come to terms with the rest of the information we are about to dump on him before bringing that part into the equation."

With a silent nod to his wife and a quick look at his son, Minato left the room. Both of the parents were smiling at the revelation that their son had looked up to his father as an idol even when he had no idea of their blood relation. For them, it was a small connection and conciliation with their son.

"Now, I believe it is time to wake the boy up," the Third said. A quick medical technique later, and the blond's eyes began to groggily open. Kushina sat at his bedside, tears already forming as she saw those bright blue eyes for the first time.

"Urgh…nuh?" His eyes fully opened and began taking in his surroundings. Her heart nearly melted when his eyes met hers, but before he could ask any questions, Kakashi decided it best to ease the blond into the situation first.

"How are you feeling, Naruto?"

The boy's eyes drifted towards the silver haired jonin and his face lit up in recognition. "Kakashi-sensei! Are Sakura-chan and Sasuke okay?"

Kakashi walked over to Naruto's side, smiling. "Yeah, they're fine." He ruffled the blond's hair as he continued. "You did a great job, Naruto. Most of the village has probably heard about what you did by now, and they're impressed. I'm proud of you." Such praise was monumental to Naruto, and it showed through his huge smile and slight blush. "There's someone I'd like you to meet, though." He gestured with his hand towards the emotional redhead that sat by his bed.

Naruto looked at her, confused. "Erm…who are you? And why are you looking at me like that?"

To the blond's bewilderment, her smile grew even more. "Naruto…it's been a very long time. I'm your mother."

Slightly widened eyes and mouth was the only reaction from the boy. Internally, his mind could hardly begin to process the thoughts and questions that surfaced. When he was little, the orphanage caretakers had assured him that any parents of his could not possibly love a monster like him. Thinking about parents in general hurt his heart and made him feel lonelier than ever. But now, this woman in front of him…was claiming to be his mother? What? Was that really true? Did his mother hate him? Or did she…love…him? What _is_ love, anyway? _Where have you been all my life?_

Sensing her son's confusion, she sought to answer some of the questions he was probably asking himself. "Naruto…I'm so sorry…" a sharp intake of breath revealed to the rest that she was bordering on crying. "I wanted to be there for you so much…I would have done anything to help you…but I didn't get the chance." Sniffing and wiping some of her tears away, she collected her thoughts before speaking again. "Your father and I were killed on the night you were born…we never wanted to leave you alone. But yesterday, somehow we were brought back to life by accident. So we're going to be here for you from now on…we're going to help you in every way we can. We love you so much."

It was the first time Naruto had ever heard those words, and all of his emotional defenses broke down as tears rolled down his cheeks. Kushina immediately embraced him, holding him as he spilled out all of the pent up emotion and anguish of his life into her chest. His sobs were both comforting and painful for her as she soothingly rubbed circles into his back, trying to erase all of that which burdened him.

00.000.00

Sasuke sat on a bench outside the hospital room next to his teammate and the Fourth Hokage, though he paid them no mind. His thoughts were elsewhere…back to a conversation he'd had not long ago.

_Standing near the blond's hospital bed, Sasuke merely observed the group giving all of their attention to the dead last. The more he saw and heard, the less able he was to deny the obvious conclusion: Naruto was the son of the Fourth Hokage. As impossible as it seemed, there was no other way to describe it, and the resemblance was uncanny now that he considered the possibility._

"_You're my son's teammate, right?" Sasuke, shaken from his daze, looked up at the red-haired woman speaking to him. That statement confirmed his suspicions, though he gave no indication of surprise. He merely nodded in response._

"_My name is Kushina Uzumaki…may I ask what your name is?"_

_Deciding that it would be more troublesome to ignore her, he answered. "Sasuke Uchiha."_

_Her eyes widened in recognition, which annoyed him. Of course, everyone knew him. He was the famed Last Uchiha, after all. Who hadn't already heard all about his story and pitied him? "Sasuke Uchiha…" To his surprise, she smiled. "Wow…you've grown so much. The last time I saw you, you were a little baby."_

_She now had his full attention. "How do you know me?"_

_Kushina's mind drifted towards memories from long ago. "I'm good friends with your mother." When his expression darkened considerably, she grew worried. "Is she…"_

"_Dead," was his snappish reply. Sasuke waited for the inevitable 'I'm sorry' pity before she moved on to things that were obviously more interesting for her. Just like everyone else._

_But once again, she surprised him. Her hand moved up towards her mouth, but it never reached. She stared at the ground, tears falling from her eyes. Sasuke was now completely bewildered. Was this woman…actually saddened by his loss? Did she not pity him?_

_After several moments, Kushina looked up at him once more. "I'm so sorry… your mother was a great woman." His eyes drifted towards her own, the slightest of cracks forming in his emotional shell. "You participated in the Chunin Exams and defended your village and friends when they were under attack. Take it from someone who knows…"_

_Sasuke allowed his mind to drift to emotions and memories he had long since shut away as he hung on her every word._

"…_your mother would be so proud of you."_

_He soaked in her words as if they had come from his mother herself. Images of her smile, of her approval, and of her pride came flooding into his memory and imagination. For the first time in four years, Sasuke could actually smile when thinking about his family._

00.000.00

Kushina held her son for several minutes before he was able to collect himself. When he finally backed out of the embrace, he wiped away the tears and mucus in an attempt to recompose, but quickly saw what he had done to her shirt. "S-sorry…"

But his mother would have none of that. "There's nothing to be sorry for, Naruto."

He looked up at her unsurely, still wondering if this could be real. "Are y-you really my M-Mom?"

She gently lifted his chin and kissed his forehead. "Yes, Naruto," she said in as soft a tone as she could muster, "I really am your Mom."

Mother and son shared a relieved, cherished smile. Kakashi, Hiruzen, and Jiraiya could only look on in contentment. The boy finally had what he truly deserved…and needed so badly.

"Would you like to meet your father, Naruto?" asked Kushina.

Naruto looked up at her, excited but hesitant. "I…I have a dad, too?"

Everyone in the room chuckled at that. "Yes, you do, Naruto. Remember what I said about him?" The confused look on his face told her no. _Definitely does not have his father's memory,_ she mused. "Your father loves you very much. Just like me, he died on the night you were born, but we've been given a second chance. We're both going to be there for you from now on, okay?" After a nod from her son, she glanced over at Kakashi, who nodded back in response.

Minato stood outside the room, contemplating how his son would react. Would he be angry? _What a stupid question. Of course he would. He has every right to be._ How long would he hold a grudge for? Would he forgive him?

"Sensei?" Awoken from his thoughts, the blond looked at his student. "It's time."

He stood, trying to compose himself. Doing his best to stop his hands from shaking, he entered the room…to see his own eyes looking at him in wonder. Hesitantly, he approached the foot of the bed. "…Naruto…"

His son continued to look at him with wide eyes and an agape mouth. For Naruto, seeing the long dead legend, the Fourth Hokage, standing in front of him was enough cause for shock. The obvious connection that it was his own _father_ that was standing before him never even registered.

After several moments of silence and no change in expression, Kushina tried to ease the awkwardness. "Naruto?"

The blond suddenly blinked, as if only just realizing that he had been staring. "…Fourth…Hokage…"

"Naruto, this is Minato Namikaze…your father."

Minato and Kushina waited for the anger, the confusion, the hurt—but nothing of the sort came at first. As Kakashi had warned them, Naruto tended to be quite slow outside of battle. "You're…my…father?" he asked.

A small smile appeared on the Hokage's lips. "Yes, Naruto. You're my son."

Naruto's shock turned into joy as tears fell from his eyes. The last thing any of them had expected followed—laughter. The boy's torrent of emotions was released in the form of choked, relieved chuckling. Never—not even in his wildest fantasies—had Naruto imagined being the _son_ of the legendary Fourth Hokage. It was simply too good to be true. There were a few times where he had dreamt of having parents who didn't hate him or even someone who loved him, but this…couldn't be real. _This may all be a dream,_ he thought, _but it's the best damn dream I've ever had. And I'm going to enjoy it…even when I wake up and it's all gone, at least, right now… I can pretend…_

His father walked over to his son's side, completely unknowing of the fact that Naruto believed he was well and truly dreaming. "Naruto, I'm so sorry for sealing the Nine-Tails into you without helping you along the way…I hope you can forgive me." His son merely looked up at him, smiling.

"It's okay."

No, they had certainly _not_ expected Naruto to forgive his father right on the spot without any hesitation. Kushina, however, decided to go with their good luck. "Naruto, why don't we go get some ramen together?"

Naruto nearly jumped out of his bed. "Yeah! Ramen! Let's go to Ichiraku's 'dattebayo!"

"Dattebayo?" asked Minato and Kushina. Their eyes met right before bursting into laughter. "You really take after your mother, Naruto." The boy took the comment in stride, laughing along with them after the explanation.

00.000.00

Kakashi felt it best to let the family spend some time together by themselves, which was why he now led the remainder of his team in the clean up and reconstruction efforts. For once, Sasuke and Sakura did not utter a single complaint at the slew of D-rank missions, and for that Kakashi could do nothing but be proud of them.

"Is it true?" asked Sasuke. He had just dropped a pile of splintered wood and glass into a larger trash pile.

"Is _what_ true, Sasuke?" the copy ninja retorted.

Black eyes turned to look at him, but without the usual look of stubborn animosity. "Is Naruto really his son?" Sakura turned to hear teammate, eyebrows raised.

"Y—"

"Kakashi! There you are!" The silver haired jonin turned around to see Asuma walking towards him, along with the rest of his team. He nearly sighed as he_ also_ saw Kurenai, Gai, and their teams right behind them.

"Asuma…what's wrong?"

The chain smoker looked dumbfounded. "Nothing's _wrong_, idiot. It's just that there have been a ton of rumors going around about the Fourth, and seeing as you're his student…"

"He's alive, along with his wife."

Asuma continued his exasperated rant. "We _know_ that he's alive, but some people are saying that he's—wait, did you say _wife_?"

By now, everyone nearby had stopped their work and paid their full attention to the conversation. "Yes, the Fourth has a wife. And a son."

"A _son?_ That can't be right! Everyone would have known about him by now! Who is he?"

Kakashi bewildered everyone with an uncharacteristic smile. "A certain blond knucklehead who goes by the name of Naruto Uzumaki."

Their expressions, Kakashi decided, were priceless. Asuma's cigarette fell from his mouth, and even the usually stoic Shino looked like he'd had a bucket of ice water dumped on him.

While waiting for everyone—save Sasuke—to process that bit of information, Kakashi casually got back to work hauling debris into manageable piles.

00.000.00

"Itadakimasu!"

With little more preamble, Naruto began devouring his first bowl of steaming miso ramen, much to the amusement of his parents. His eating habits were similar to his mother's, though even she was not quite so animalistic with her food.

Still, ramen was a favorite food of Kushina's, and Minato certainly had a liking for it as well. "You might want to slow down, Naruto," advised the redhead. "It's not going to disappear."

Surprisingly, Naruto stopped eating and chewing mid-bite, his expression suddenly solemn. His parents' concern immediately rose, but before they could comment on it, the blond finished his bite and smiled at them. "Sorry! I always eat a lot after coming out of the hospital."

Deciding not to ask about his fake smile, Kushina moved to a safer topic. "So what's your team like?"

Minato and Kushina were caught off guard by the sudden no-punctuation description of each of his teammates. "Well, there's Sasuke-teme who's strong but is really stupid about it and he has the Sharingan and is always all serious and stuff, and then there's Sakura-chan who's really pretty but is always following Sasuke-teme around but she's still really smart, and then there's Kakashi-sensei who's always late and wears a mask all the time and also has the Sharingan and is really lazy but he's really strong in a fight and has a weird smile and he's always reading those pervy books and…" Noticing the unbelievable _pause_, his parents could only stare in wonder. "…he has _really_ weird hair."

Unable to hold their laughter in any longer, the parents nearly fell off of their seats cracking up, much to Naruto's utter confusion.

* * *

A/N: I decided to take a different route with Naruto's reaction. Essentially, he's willing to believe his mother is alive after all of this time, but when he finds that he has a father too, and his 'father' happens to be his hero and idol, he can't possibly believe that it's all real. So for now, he believes it's all a dream, but one he's going to enjoy anyway, despite 'knowing' that it isn't real. For someone who's endured as much as he has, it's a big relief even to pretend.

Obviously, it's not going to _stay_ that way. But you get the picture.

**Please let me know what you think!**


	3. A Day In Heaven

A/N: Update Date - 7/25/10. Sorry, no real author's note this time. It's very late and I felt that this was a good place to stop.

And in case you're wondering about The Seeds We Sow, check my profile. I don't want to have to explain everything many times in a row.

* * *

**Chapter 3: A Day In Heaven**

Asuma didn't even bother trying to wipe the look of shock off of his face. His cigarette could burn itself out on the pile of wood scraps near his feet for all he cared. A single sentence had just forced him to revisit every single one of his memories and conclusions about a certain blond knucklehead, and then try and reconcile that image with that of the legendary Fourth Hokage.

No, it was like comparing night and day as far as actions and personality go. The Fourth was known as a genius among geniuses, someone who could defeat any Nara in a game of shogi…which was something a grand total of _no one else_ could claim. His supposed son, on the other hand, was one of the thickest kids he'd ever seen, goofy and lacking in all things sensical.

But…there _was_ something. Naruto had a knack for spur of the moment, odd tactical decisions that actually ended up _working_. His fight against Neji had proven that in spades; some of his tactics had impressed many of his fellow jonin, a feat that few genin could accomplish. With that connection built in his mind, Asuma moved on to the more logical facts that he knew. The resemblance between the Yellow Flash and Konoha's most unpredictable knucklehead ninja was too similar to be a coincidence, now that he considered the possibility. And then, of course, was the fact that Naruto was the jinchuuriki of the same tailed beast that the Fourth had died sealing away. The more he thought about it, the more things made sense. So, five minutes later, he prided himself in being the first person in the present group of Team Asuma, Team Gai, and Team Kurenai to be able to stop looking like an idiot.

His student, Shikamaru, was next. A tactical genius in his own right, Shikamaru Nara spent most of the past few minutes trying to understand how the son of someone so smart could be so _stupid_. However, the pineapple haired genin pushed that paradox aside with a characteristic utterance of "troublesome" and decided to figure it out later.

Hinata's thoughts drifted to her memories of Naruto's childhood, when he had withstood countless glares and even an occasional beating for reasons she couldn't fathom. The revelation that he was the son of Konoha's greatest hero and genius only added to her confusion at his treatment.

For the rest, the truth was difficult to believe, but none of them saw any reason for Kakashi to lie and walk away. "Alright everyone," Asuma called out, "back to work. And in case you're wondering, Kakashi wasn't lying."

00.000.00

As the Uzumaki family walked towards Naruto's apartment, the boy couldn't help but gawk at the stares everyone was giving them. It was a total contrast to an aspect of his life that he had been forced to accept; instead of hateful glares, they were looks of wonder, respect, and happiness. Though the glares had been lessening considerably ever since his mission to the Wave, the staggering difference between then and now further enforced the idea that he was dreaming.

Even if it wasn't real, it was by far the best dream Naruto had ever experienced. His 'mother' had smiled at him like no one else ever had…like he'd seen real mothers do for their children. She held him when he was upset, forgave him instantly for anything he thought he did wrong, and most of all…

She said she _loved_ him. That idea, even if it was based on a mere dream, was something he could only cherish and hope for. Perhaps, one day, after he'd done something so great that no one could possibly hate him anymore, someone would go as far as to say they loved him. It was a dream worth fighting for, just like his goal of becoming Hokage.

Of course, he couldn't forget his idol acknowledging him, saying he was _proud_ of him, and claiming to be his own _father_. That was something he could daydream about for the rest of his life, a happy thought that he could always fall back on…

"This is where you live, Naruto?"

The question shook him from his thoughts, and he turned to face his 'mother' with a smile. "Yeah! It's up there, on the fourth floor!"

As he walked in the apartment, Minato stifled a frown. It was obviously not well kept; _messy_ was putting it politely. It was like no one had ever told the boy how to clean up after himself or how to maintain a living space. When, a split second later, he realized that this was _exactly_ the case, he was not able to hide his frown any longer. A 12 year old boy should not be living completely alone, especially an orphan. Though, he supposed, he was partially to blame for his son's situation. His guilt only hit harder when Naruto didn't seem to realize that anything was _wrong_ with his home, as if he had no idea how clean a normal home was supposed to be. An indifferent person would write his son off as totally lacking in manners and common sense, but Minato would be quick to lecture them that his son's life had been anything but _common_. With no one to teach him anything, Naruto was obviously extremely lacking in the life lesson department, and even more lacking in all of the basic things parental figures tell children.

That was all about to change. Mustering as sincere a smile as he could manage, he turned to his son. "Why don't we start cleaning up, Naruto?"

The task was rather daunting, considering that the apartment had likely not been cleaned in years, but he'd experienced _much_ harder things in his life. _Like watching my wife die. And leaving my son an orphan_. Shaking his head, Minato steered away from such dark thoughts. _Focus on the present. What's done is done._ There would be time for everything else later. For now, he was focused on one thing and one thing only: his family.

00.000.00

"You okay, Sakura?"

She had not moved from her spot since Kakashi had dropped that bombshell on her mind. Just like everyone else, she had thought back to all of her memories of her blond teammate, thinking about how she treated him. From the times she had called him an idiot, yelled at him, rejected his affection for her, and even hit him for what she deemed as stupidity, she fell deeper and deeper into regret. When her sensei put his hand on her shoulder, she nearly jumped in surprise.

Kakashi studied the look on her face with decades of experience. "Thinking about Naruto?" He already knew; the question's purpose was for her to come to understand her own thought processes.

Absently nodding, she took a few moments to collect herself before speaking. "I…I just can't believe I treated the Fourth's son like that…"

Sighing, he knelt down to her level. "Sakura, _why_ are you sorry?"

The confusion in her eyes told him that she didn't understand at all. "B-because he's the Fourth's son and I treated him like some annoying idio—"

"Sakura." She looked him back in the eyes, as if hoping that he held the answers she was looking for. "Why does his father's identity mean anything?" The gears were turning in her head, but she was obviously not going to respond any time soon, so he continued. "You just found out who his father is, but why does that matter? If you treated him like an annoying idiot, why are you only sorry for it_ now_? Naruto has not changed at all since yesterday." Sighing once again, he decided to make it as clear as possible to her. "Sakura, if you are truly sorry, then you should apologize to _Naruto_ for being mean to him. You should feel sorry not because he's someone's son, but because you treated him unfairly. Just like you would with anyone else."

He could almost see the invisible words being soaked up like a sponge. After continuing the stare for a few moments longer for effect, he returned to duty.

00.000.00

Even before the Uchiha Massacre, Sasuke liked to train. Back then, it had been all about impressing the people he cared about, surpassing their expectations, and earning their approval.

Now, he trained for two very different reasons, one of which he never liked to admit to himself. He could not rest until he had avenged his clan, and his brother was still leagues beyond him. It would take years…but he would at least know that he was not wasting time. When the thoughts of his past, of his family, of his brother surfaced, he dove straight into training until he could not think about anything else. Years ago, he had once allowed his thoughts to stray and remain on those painful subjects, but he had long since learned that nothing good came of that.

Or so he thought.

"_Your mother…would be so proud of you."_

With a cry of frustration, he punched the wooden stump hard enough to crack it. He paid no mind to the blood seeping from his knuckles or the pain. One of the first and hardest lessons he had learned since his Academy days was to push aside pain and ignore it. Once you think about it, it consumes you.

He had enough trouble keeping his head above water as it was.

_That woman…_. She knew his mother; she was a good friend of hers. Not family, but a connection—close enough to be _too_ close to home for him to ignore. Years of solitude…and suddenly this woman walked into his life, like a long lost relative. He didn't know _why_ he felt that way…and it ate at him. He _needed_ to find the answer.

00.000.00

_Let's see…ramen, ramen, and…more ramen! Wow…_. Kushina was both amused and surprised at the food stored in the kitchen…or lack thereof. Vegetables were nonexistent, and in the fridge…she considered calling a hazardous material team to clean it out. _How did he live on this?_

She knew from experience that the Nine-Tailed Fox maintained a minimum health standard for its host; on particularly long and difficult missions, she could go days without food and still be energetic. That was the only explanation, she figured, for him not suffering from malnourishment. _Looks like we're going to have to take ramen off the menu for now._

Turning around to look for her son, she saw that he was currently taking out random odds and ends from under his bed. She walked up behind him silently, knelt down to his level, and placed her hands around his shoulders. "Naruto," she said, love and care radiating from her tone. "Can we talk for a minute?"

The fact that he completely froze under her touch told Kushina that he was very unfamiliar with this type of contact. Pushing the depressing thoughts away before they could take hold, she helped ease him out of his uncomfortableness as he turned around. Beaming at her son, she spoke softly. "You can't eat ramen all the time…I know that it tastes really good, but you have to eat other things all the time too." After a hesitant nod from him, she continued. "You can't rely on the Fox to keep you healthy and help you grow."

At the mention of the word "Fox", Naruto's eyes widened as he tried to distance himself from his mother. "Y-you…know?"

Taking note of the sheer fear in his voice and expression, she quickly attempted to reassure him. "Of course I know, silly. I used to have the Fox inside of me, too." That bit of information seemed to send his mind into another tailspin. "The reason you have those birthmarks," she said, tracing her fingers across each of them soothingly, "is because I gave birth to you when I was the host of the Fox. Though I do have to say," Kushina commented as her smile grew even wider, "I think they're cute."

What she could not have known was that he viewed those whisker-like birthmarks similarly to how Kushina once viewed her hair—something that marked her as different. People would always know that _he_ was the 'demon child' because of them. No matter what he did—die his hair, change his clothes—people would _always_ know because of those marks. No one had ever put them in a positive light before, especially not himself. He _hated_ them…but his 'mother' liked them. His 'mother' was even just like him, too! She once had the Fox sealed into her, and people didn't glare at her or anything!

She was the embodiment of all that he could hope for: acceptance, happiness, and love in spite of her inner demon. If she could become that as the host of the Fox…then it was possible that he could too.

Without even realizing it, tears fell from his eyes as his open-mouthed smile grew. Her hands still cupping her son's cheeks, she wiped the tears away with her thumbs. "I love you." She decided that her son needed to hear that much more often, especially for 'just because' moments. To accentuate the message, she once again softly kissed his forehead. "Now, why don't we go get some dinner?"

Minato casually stood in the doorway, arms crossed as he smiled fondly at the pair. This was a sight he only had a precious few moments to imagine the night he and his wife died…and now he had the chance to see many more. Even just this _one_ day was like a dream he had always wished for but seemed too good to be true. _Naruto…_

00.000.00

Sometimes, things just _happened_. One could wish for it to be otherwise, but that same person would always know that wish could make things much worse.

Like, for instance, receiving an enemy shinobi for ambassadorial purposes with no preamble and wishing that it could have waited another day. _I'm sorry, Minato…_

Walking into a nice restaurant to find his successor, he spotted the frown on Minato's face as he approached the table. "Please forgive me for interrupting your much deserved family time, Minato…but a very urgent matter has come up and I thought it best to involve you in the negotiations."

The blond man sighed, but nodded a moment later. He looked up at his son's eyes, smiling. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I'll have to see you later. Trust me, though, I will be back. I promise." The boy's reply was more solemn than he had expected, but not something they could concern themselves with right now. Minato fell into step with him as soon as they left the restaurant. "What's the problem?"

"As you know, Konoha was invaded yesterday by both Suna and Oto forces. While we know little about the latter, a pair of Suna shinobi arrived at the village gates less than half an hour ago and surrendered themselves, claiming that they were delivering important information. They're currently under guard at the Hokage Tower, though I think it would not do to keep them waiting."

His companion looked down for a moment in contemplation. "Then let's not waste time discussing what might be going on." With a few flickers, they arrived at the tower and reached the Suna ninja. "You said you had important information to tell us," Minato stated.

_Right down to business as usual, I see…_ thought Hiruzen.

One of the Suna ninja, who looked relatively young but had a piece of cloth covering half of his face, stood up and bowed respectfully. "Hokage-sama, my name is Baki. I am a Suna jonin, and one of the leading commanders of the recent and wrongful invasion. A short time ago, a search party, myself included, located the remains of our Kazekage and his personal body guards. The evidence indicated that they had been dead for some time…meaning that Orochimaru, who originally approached Suna offering an alliance, was impersonating our kage. We should have known better, but our total obedience blinded us to this treachery. Though I cannot speak on Suna's behalf, I felt it necessary to inform you of what we have discovered regardless. However…given all that has occurred, I expect the Suna council will readily agree to peace negotiations, especially if you were to relay your possible intentions as soon as possible."

Though he did not show it, Minato and Hiruzen were elated. The ominous reality that their supposed ally had attacked them was a very dark and dangerous turn of events. This new revelation, however, seemed to represent the best case scenario. A shared look between the two Hokage confirmed their course of action to each other. "Then we'll contact Suna immediately and tell them that we are willing to begin peace negotiations," spoke Minato.

Baki bowed once more. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Seeing that the man seemed to have something else to say, Minato delved right into the heart of the matter. "Is there something else you wish to say, Baki-san?"

After a few moments of hesitation, the Suna jonin spoke his mind. "Is it true…that you are the Yellow Flash? That you've returned?"

At that, the blond could not help but smile. "Indeed. I am well and truly back…and here to stay." On that note, he gave Baki a quick nod before walking out of the room.

Hiruzen told the guards to give the Suna ninja diplomatic guest quarters, though informed them that they would be under constant surveillance. Minutes later, he joined his successor in the Hokage's office. Seeing Minato slowly gaze between the desk and the window, he guessed what was on the man's mind. "Nostalgic?"

Minato didn't take his look off of the vista the windows offered. "I remember the last time I set foot in this office. That day…the day everything went wrong…"

The old man took soft, measured steps as he walked up to his successor, reminiscing about that same day. When Minato turned back towards him, tears were falling freely from his eyes.

"My son was held hostage the minute he was born…my wife had the Nine-Tails ripped out of her…and then was burdened by the knowledge that her tenant was killing her friends as she lay dying next to her newborn son. Even as blood seeped from her mouth, she offered to drag the Fox back into her and die with it to save me and our son. She said that she was happy…happy that I loved her, happy that it was our son's birthday." As the raw emotions that he had kept pent up came flooding back, he collapsed down to the floor, sobbing as he continued. "She said that she could only picture happiness at the thought of surviving and living with her family…that her only regret was that she wouldn't get to see Naruto grow up." A cry of pure anguish sounded from the man, indicating to Hiruzen quite clearly that he had never had time to get over the loss…or his pain. "And n-now…he went through his childhood alone…and h-hated…and it's my fault. I put my burdens on his shoulders and left him completely alone to deal with it all..." He sniffed in deeply, a pained moan escaping his lips. "What have I done?"

Hiruzen knelt beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Minato, I cannot pretend to know if there was some other option you could have taken that night, nor can I know what would have happened had you taken it…but I _do_ know that your decision was not without merit. The consequences of your decision may have been harsher than you originally thought, or are willing to accept, but the consequences of a different decision could have been far worse. We will never know. There is no point in asking 'what if?'; we're past that point. What has been done has been done. You are likely the only one who blames yourself for your decision. Even Naruto bears no ill will towards you…quite the opposite, in fact."

Minato began to collect himself soon after the words had sunk in. "It doesn't change what my son went through," he said, wiping his eyes. "Nor does it change the fact that we were never there for him."

His predecessor merely smiled. "But now you will…both of you. That thought that Kushina spoke of…the thought of her living with her family…it has come true. Belatedly, perhaps, but it is true nonetheless. And now that she is no longer the Nine-Tails jinchuuriki, neither she nor Naruto are in danger of a similar crisis ever again."

The other man's look was anything but reassured, to Hiruzen's surprise. "No…if anything, they're in just as much danger as before."

"Why? How?"

Minato's bloodshot eyes met his worried own. "Because Kushina's seal didn't fail that night…we were attacked out of nowhere by a powerful man. He knew everything…he was able to separate me from Kushina long enough for him to forcibly extract the Nine-Tails from her weakened seal, and he was capable of controlling the Fox."

This information sent Hiruzen reeling. "This man…was he an Uchiha? Do you know who he was?"

Blue eyes gazed out the window. "He had the Sharingan, that much is certain. He may have even been Madara Uchiha…but all indications point towards this man acting alone, or at least with accomplices I can't fathom. He's still alive, I'm sure, and waiting for another opportunity to strike."

It was Hiruzen's turn to steady himself with the floor. "Oh no…_no_…"

"What is it?" asked the blond, now very curious.

The Third's eyes were a million miles away as his voice groveled with guilt and grief. "After the attack, we suspected the Uchiha clan was responsible, at least in some way. They were cordoned off into a special district at the edge of the village and kept under constant ANBU surveillance. We began tracking many of their members. Years later, a double agent of ours—Itachi Uchiha, a prodigy of the Uchiha clan and an ANBU captain—informed us that the clan was plotting a coup. But it seems that I was not the first to find out, as Danzo, Hamura, and Utante, were aware of this information for some time. The latter two were surprised I didn't already know. When I informed them that I would try and negotiate with the clan, they told me that 'the time for peaceful resolutions is over.' Itachi was ordered to massacre his clan to prevent an uprising before it could occur…and he followed that order. He killed every member of the Uchiha clan, as per orders…except for his younger brother, Sasuke, who does not know the truth about the incident. Itachi, that same night, approached me and begged me not to let any harm befall Sasuke…or tell him the truth about the massacre. Itachi was forced to flee the village as a missing-nin if he were to maintain the masquerade he established for his younger brother's sake, and I have not seen hi m since. Everything about that incident haunts me to this day…"

They sat in silence for several minutes as they let each other's revelations sink in. Finally, Minato spoke up, determined. "Then we have things to take care of. Sasuke needs to know the truth, and soon. Hiding such important secrets from those who are so closely involved with them…nothing good can come out of that." Hiruzen looked at his successor, both surprised and understanding. "But first thing's first. We've got a diplomatic situation to resolve."

Standing back up with a smile, Hiruzen gestured towards the Hokage's chair with an open hand. "The seat is all yours. Though I must say…it's great to have you back."

Minato smirked as he sat in his chair once more. "It's great to _be_ back. Now…let's get to work."

00.000.00

When it was getting late, Kushina knew she had to begrudgingly leave her son for the night. After tucking him in, she kissed him on the cheek. "I have to check in to a different room for tonight. But don't worry—I'll be back here in the morning. Goodnight, my son."

Naruto gave her a bittersweet smile as she stood up and shut the light. When the door to the apartment closed with a soft thud, his smile began to fade. His 'day in heaven' had been greater than anything he had ever wished for…but it had come to an end.

* * *

A/N: Thoughts?

Questions for you guys:

1) Did you notice any improvement between this chapter and the last one? If so, what?

2) What were your favorite moments of the chapter?

3) What were your least favorite moments of the chapter?

4) How believable is everything?

**Until next time, PLEASE REVIEW! **


	4. Waking Up

"_Sooner or later, you have to wake up."_

**Chapter 4: Waking Up**

After beginning the daily morning ritual of coming back to his senses after waking up, Naruto laid uncharacteristically still. He knew that the dream was over, but a faint smile forced its way onto his lips. It has been something he would never forget, something he would always cherish. A dream of what could have been, of all of his most important wishes answered. When everything went wrong, when he was struggling to stay afloat against a sea of depressing thoughts, he could at least fall back on that memory—that dream—as his shelter. Of a time when he was truly happy. Of a time when he received that which he wanted most, and received even more.

But now it was back to the cold, hard reality. Slowly rising out of bed, he continued his usual routine of brushing, dressing, and preparing breakfa—_what?_ No longer half-asleep, Naruto noticed that his apartment was _much_ cleaner than he last remembered it. In the dream, he and his 'parents' had cleaned it all up, just like it was now…

Uncertainty plaguing his mind, he quickly searched every nook and cranny of his surroundings. _It can't be._ He had _never_ cleaned up his apartment like this except for in that dream. Unless someone had cleaned it for him while he was asleep or away—_no, who would do something like that for me?_ Staring blankly at the wall ahead of him, he wracked his mind for an explanation. _It can't be real. It can't be._ _It's too good to be true because it is. It always is._ While his mind raged in its internal battle, he suddenly took notice of the object he had been staring at.

A picture. _The _picture. The only one he had—Team 7's group photo, the one he always kept on his dresser next to his bed. His eyes now told him, however, that the picture was standing neatly on the kitchen counter.

He never did that. It was the kind of place he wouldn't even _consider_ putting that particular prized possession. Images flashed to his mind's eye, recalling how his 'mother' had casually placed it there to clean the dresser it usually sat on. _And then…she…she moved my kunai holster into the drawer underneath the picture._ He ran over to it, his mind fixated only on the brown, wooden handle that would reveal the answer. With frantic fury, he shoved open the drawer…

…to find his kunai holster, right where she had left it. He didn't put it there, and he never would…but he distinctly remembered his 'mother' placing it exactly where he found it. Naruto's mind locked up as he felt his knees weakening. As if frightened by the holster and all it represented, he unevenly paced backward until he knee gave out entirely, causing him to fall backwards, straight into the corner of the wooden dining table. Cursing through the pain and throbbing, Naruto rubbed the back of his head furiously, not caring that he covered his hands in blood as he did so. Moments later, when the pain was dull enough to be a mere afterthought, he began trying to reconcile two realities that clashed in every way possible.

For someone who had never had much in the way of fortune, the 'dream' was indeed _far_ too good to be true in his mind. When his trust had been broken time and again, he was very cynical when it came to good things happening to _him_. But this…was there any other way to explain it? He never did these things…no one else ever would…and he remembered his 'parents' doing it. So…was there anything that proved it wasn't real?

_The Fourth is dead,_ his mind retorted. _How could he be your father and help you clean your apartment if he's dead?_ His brows furrowed in concentration, he decided that one thing would _prove_ that it was real. _I have to see the Fourth, alive and kic—_

A knock resounded from the door. Not used to entertaining guests in his home (as if such a thing would ever happen, he mused), let alone when confronted with paradoxes, he simply stared dumbly at the white, simple entrance to his _humble_ abode. When the door swung open, his thumping heart was the loudest sound in his ears.

The familiar woman with calf-length red hair strolled into his home, two bags of groceries tucked into her arms. Behind her came a spiky-haired blond, dressed in a casual dark blue uniform. _The Fourth…_

"Naruto?" Kushina cheerfully called, her steps twisty and playful. When she saw him sitting on the floor, his hands red with blood, she rushed over with widened eyes as she set the grocery bags down beside him. "Naruto? Are you okay?" she asked, her tone laced with worry.

Minato was at his other side almost immediately after her. A quick check on his hands and body revealed that the wound was a head injury. "Naruto?" Minato asked, more firmly than his wife. If the head injury was serious, he needed to keep his son focused and awake.

Naruto switched his blank gaze from his mother to his father, attempting to form words. "This…this is…real?"

For a second, Minato thought that the head injury must have been _very_ serious and needed to be dealt with at the hospital immediately…but a different conclusion reached his mind soon after. _The Fox has healed injuries far worse than this…and he's looking me straight in the eye, clearly and soberly. So he—_Minato reactively gasped as he finally realized what was going on. _He doesn't…he doesn't think this is _real_?_

Kushina was similarly taken aback, but Naruto continued to clarify his question. "You guys…are really…my parents?"

Feeling as if she had been pushed off of a cliff she didn't even know existed, Kushina desperately tried to make sense of the apparent impossibility. _Did…didn't we go over this yesterday? Wait, 'this is real?' How could he possibly think something like that? It's not like he thinks it's…all…a…a _dream_. Of course. So many unlikely miracles plopped into the lap of someone who never got what he deserved…how could I_ _have been_ _so stupid? _"Naruto, we really _are_ your parents. This _is_ real. This is _not_ a dream."

Catching her thought process and conclusion, Minato's expression briefly grew _more_ shocked before settling into a calm understanding. "I know this is a lot to take in, Naruto," he said, placing a reassuring hand on his son's shoulder, "but we're here to stay. I promise you that."

Naruto's face remained expressionless as he continued to stare at his father. Several seconds later, the boy's gaze slowly drifted to the floor, and what seemed like an awkward eternity later, he began to smile. It was like a wall that had formed in his mind had weakened.; he had accepted his situation—his _reality_—as the lonely struggle that it was, and his parents were kept out by that barrier. Only now had it begun to truly crack, but it would not be broken so easily.

An entire life of psychological and emotional pain could not be so simply erased.

He could smile, though, because they were _real_. They weren't going to leave him; they weren't going to disappear or lie to him. All of the happy moments that he had experienced in his 'day of heaven' were just the beginning. He could see the way forward, riddled with many more moments like those…and it made him relieved…relieved that it was not, in fact, all a dream.

As tears formed, Naruto looked up at father with eyes that said everything. Minato locked his son into a warm embrace, desperately trying to pour out all of the love he had been unable to give for his son's entire life. Tears rolled down their cheeks silently for nearly a minute, for there was no need for words or sounds to convey each other's meaning. Naruto, unwilling to keep his feelings bottled up, eventually released short sobs into his father's shoulder. "W-Why?" the boy asked. "…why did you seal the Fox into me? Why did you leave me alone? Why didn't I know about you?"

Kushina joined in the hug as Minato held his son even tighter. "If people knew you were my son, and I wasn't there to protect you…there would be trouble. I have made some enemies in my life, and they'd try to hurt you to get back at me. The Third probably thought that you'd figure out that you were my son if you knew who your mother was. And we never wanted to leave you…we wanted to raise you, to help you grow up, to share our love with you each and every day…but a disaster happened."

Treating the embrace as an emotional lifeline, Naruto spoke into his father's chest. "W-What disaster?"

Minato's voice cracked as he continued, the pain from that night still fresh in his mind. "You know that your mother was the previous Nine-Tails host, right? Well, on the night you were born…an evil man attacked us by surprise. He managed to separate your mother and I…and he…" His hands shaking, Minato tried to stifle the deep pain in his heart as he recalled the agonizing, mortal wound that had befallen his wife. "…he forced the Nine-Tails out of her, and used it to attack Konoha. I fought him, and pushed him back…but that man was far from defeated. I knew that he had more plans to use, more ways to hurt Konoha. I forced the Fox away from the village, to where your mother—and you—were. She held the fox down, and offered to drag it back into her and die with it. But the Fox can't really die…and if that evil man were to resurrect it, there would be a disaster. So I did what I thought was the only way to save everyone…I sealed half of the Fox's chakra into you, while I sealed the other half into the Shinigami, and the technique cost me my life. Your mother…" He swallowed painfully, not caring about the tears strolling down his cheeks. "…she was already dying ever since the Fox had been forced out of her…and she died that night, too. We never wanted to leave you alone, Naruto…we're _so_ sorry." Unable to keep his mind from reliving the final moments of his life coupled with the knowledge of his son's life, Minato quietly sobbed as he squeezed his son tighter. "…_I'm_ so sorry…"

Naruto didn't say anything for several minutes, much to his parent's concern. If he was mad at them, if he didn't forgive them…they didn't want to think about it. "I…" His voice was weak and cut off abruptly by the lump in his throat. After swallowing to clear it, he continued in a voice filled with sadness and confusion. "I…I don't…I hate that…why did he have to do it? Why did it happen…to me? _Why_…?"

Kushina understood his frustration; she too had had her life destroyed from out of nowhere by events out of her control. It was beyond frustrating. You were overwhelmed with pain that seemed too much to be real; you refuse to accept it, and start taking out that anger on whatever you can find to blame for your pain. "Because that man was a true monster, and we were in his way. Sometimes…sometimes there's no good reason why; sometimes things just _happen_. I know it sucks…but the best thing to do is to use that anger to drive you to make sure it never happens again."

After taking a minute to process her words, Naruto finally eased himself out of the hug. Wiping away the tears sheepishly, he looked up at his parents. For the first time, he felt that he could look at them and acknowledge who they really were, and what they meant. At the sight of his smiling parents, Naruto's old self returned. "So…what are we going to do today?"

Their smiles grew even wider. "First," began his father, "we have to make sure your head is okay."

Kushina, however, knew better. "Love, trust me. If he's lucid and not covered in blood, he's fine. He just needs to wash up."

Suddenly remembering that he had hit his head, Naruto looked down at his hands, with the dried blood still covering them. "Oh…yeah, I should go wash my hands…"

As he did that, Kushina brought up a topic she and her husband had been talking about all night. "Naruto, I'm sorry for leaving you last night. I wish there was enough room for me to stay in here, but there isn't, which is why I think we should consider moving into a house together." While the Uzumaki family once did own a house, it had been sold after their deaths, with no apparent heir to the property. Since the Hokage Manor was occupied by Hiruzen (who currently owned it by law), the family had to look into other options.

Naruto's brows furrowed in concentration. _A house?_ Living with his parents…it was a weird thought for someone who never really lived in any way but alone. No longer being alone, even when he came home…the very thought brought a smile to his face. Still, his apartment was something he was familiar with; it was his shelter and a big part of his sense of identity. Leaving it behind would be difficult. Finished washing his hands, Naruto's gaze fell back onto the assuring faces of his parents. The answer became obvious in seconds. _They_ were his sense of self. _They_ were his shelter, his home. "Yeah…I'd like that."

Deciding to go look for a suitable house later, Naruto requested that he introduce his parents to his team, which they were all too eager to comply with. Hiruzen had given Minato free reign to take as much time as he needed with his family, only calling him for emergencies. To Minato's relief, the Third had also given a vague explanation to many of his subordinates about how the Uzumaki's were alive once again, purposefully leaving out the specifics. After all, he didn't want anyone to get any ideas of resurrection by human sacrifice. He already had enough emotional baggage from his awry student.

00.000.00

Naruto's absence, Kakashi noticed, was actually having a profound effect on Team 7. Sasuke was more confused than ever without a competitive, brotherly figure bothering him every step of the way, and Sakura felt out of place without the noisy blond providing a humorous spin on every situation.

Without him, Kakashi thought it best to avoid anything but D-rank missions, and since they had done at least a dozen of those in the past two days, they were currently focused on training.

As he soon found out, his team _really_ needed some work in this area. Sasuke was strong, he didn't doubt that, but Sakura was severely lacking in terms of combat ability. She was a natural illusionist, but knew no illusion techniques at all. Since Sasuke was accustomed to training alone, he had no complaints about spending most of his time training Sakura.

When his sensei and student came walking onto his team's training grounds, Kakashi couldn't be happier. He called Sasuke and Sakura over for a break as they all met near the wooden stumps. "Sensei, Naruto, Kushina…it's great to see you."

"Likewise, Kakashi," said Minato. "Naruto begged us to let him introduce us to his team."

Amused at the wide-eyes of his teammates, Naruto jumped straight into the introductions. "Mom, Dad, this is Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, and Sasuke-teme!"

"Watch your language, Naruto!" yelled Kushina. "Besides, I don't know why you're so rude to Sasuke; he seems to be a fine young man." The Uchiha in question hid his slight blush at the compliment as Kushina continued. "And it's very nice to meet you Sakura-san."

Minato just shook his head, smiling at his wife's outburst. "Is your team training right now, Kakashi?"

"Yup. Though unfortunately, I can't focus on both Sakura and Sasuke at once."

The Fourth saw through his student's comment immediately. _Would you mind training Sasuke for me?_

"I'm not too worried, though," continued Kakashi, "because Sasuke is one of Konoha's top genin right now. It's a shame the Chunin Exams were interrupted, he stood a good chance of passing."

Sasuke's expression immediately softened at the praise as he looked up to his sensei in surprise. Normally, Kakashi commented on his progress with a simple "good" and left it at that. To have his progress, which he had been brooding over ever since his defeat at the hands of Gaara and Naruto's subsequent victory, acknowledged in such a way was relieving to the boy.

"Once the crisis with Suna is resolved, I think we could even be able to resume the final tournament where we left off." Both of the chunin hopefuls looked up in surprise. Another chance at promotion instantly relit their fiery motivation, which Minato noticed with a smirk. Indeed, the diplomatic situation with Suna was proving to be quite hopeful, with Suna actually pledging full support to Konoha as a way to apologize for the attack. "Why don't we join you? I've wanted to train my son for a long time."

Kushina walked up to Sasuke, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I think it's both my responsibility and honor to train you in your mother's place, if you are okay with that."

Sasuke looked up at her smiling face in confused gratitude, the pieces of his puzzle all coming together. Now he understood: she was acting like the family he had lost years ago, trying to give him what they used to—attention, acknowledgement, and true affection. "S-Sure."

A minute later, each pair had gone their separate ways, taking up position several dozen meters away from each other.

"So, what exactly is your fighting style?" Minato asked his son.

Naruto, never having given it any real thought, tried to process each of his fights. "I guess…I outnumber my enemy and attack them with everything at once, and try to trick them when that doesn't work. I dunno, really."

_Outnumber them?_ thought Minato. "Why don't you show me? Let's see what you've got!" he yelled, giddy with anticipation. During the months of Kushina's pregnancy, he had _really_ looked forward to the day when he could train and spar with his son.

"Yosh! Here we go, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A huge puff of smoke later, and Minato realized that he was completely surrounded by copies of his son.

_Shadow clones? There's…dozens of them!_ Before he could consider all of the possibilities and benefits of such an ability, his son and the copies quickly swarmed him. While he was actually a tad worried at first, he quickly discovered that his son's taijutsu—his martial arts—was awful. Dealing with them, even when outnumbered 50 to one and surrounded, was a rather easy task. _I'll need to work on that with him…_

Seeing that the current tactic was failing, Naruto decided to mix things up. Forming another hand seal, he created another hundred clones. Instead of simply swarming him again, many of them jumped in groups of three into the air. Two of each group grabbed the third and launched him down towards Minato, who looked upon the tactic in shock. _He's using the shadow clones as human projectiles!_ he thought in amused horror. With his legendary reflexes and speed, dodging them wasn't a problem, but what came next _was_.

Using his surprise and distraction, Naruto had the remaining 50 clones hurl several shuriken each at their target, who managed to dodge with a skilled replacement technique. _Damn, he can make a LOT of clones!_ Minato mused. _I wonder what else he can do with them._ Singling out the original, Minato flickered behind his son from seemingly out of nowhere and delivered a soft kick to his side. To his surprise, his 'son' turned into a puff of smoke. _Not a replacement; I would have detected that. He…He had one of the clones create the next batch of clones!_

Once again, he was attacked from all sides by shuriken. Using another replacement, Minato flanked a group of clones and began whittling down their number one by one with taijutsu.

Frustrated that he couldn't land a hit on his father, Naruto desperately tried to think of a new tactic to do so. He was, however, on cloud nine despite his lack of success; he was sparring with the _Fourth Hokage_, who was also his _father_! 'Happy' was too mundane a word to describe how he felt.

Minato finished off all but the last few of the clones and stood in a defensive stance, waiting to see what his son would do next. He, too, could not wipe the smile off of his face or hide his joy. Naruto created another batch of clones, once _again_ surrounding him. What came next, however, caught him _completely _off guard. Looking back at that moment, 'off guard' did not even come _close_ to an accurate description.

"HAREM JUTSU!"

_Wha—_ Before he could process that proclamation, he was quickly surrounded by a dozens of nearly naked, blond women. His mind feebly tried to come up with a response to this surreal situation, but it was a wasted effort once they slowly swaggered towards him. While he was not thrown off by their beauty (as far as he was concerned, anything short of Kushina was not really worth paying attention to), he couldn't quite bring himself to fight against such…_opponents_.

Big mistake, he soon realized. They tackled him to the ground, transforming back into their original form, and started delivering light punches all over his body. He curled up into a defensive position, laughing as he yelled, "Mercy! I give up! I give up!" The clones dispersed, revealing a hysterical Naruto holding onto his legs. Minato quickly joined in the laughter. While the technique was nothing short of _terrifying_ from a parental perspective, he couldn't deny that it was effective; after all, it had worked against _him_.

Recalling that Jiraiya had allowed Naruto to sign the toad contract, he surmised that his sensei had been training Naruto. _Of course._ He was going to have a _serious_ talk with the man when he got the chance. For now, though…he was more than content with sharing a good laugh with his son.

00.000.00

"I may not have the Sharingan, but I can teach you some of the fire techniques I know," stated Kushina.

Sasuke nodded, but his mind barely processed her words. Instead, a different thought surfaced in his mind. "How…how exactly did you know my mother?"

Softening at the question and memories of Mikoto, she gazed absently into the distance. "Your mother and I were sent on a lot of missions together, and eventually we became close. Especially during our pregnancies; having already been through one herself, she helped me out a lot during those months." After closing her eyes for a few moments in reminiscence, she lowered her warm smile to Sasuke. "You know, you're always welcome to come to me if you need anything. Whether you need someone to train you, or spar with you, or even just to talk…my door is always open. You're at the very least a family friend, Sasuke, though I think of you as more than that."

Having no one to talk to or anyone who truly cared about you as an individual was one of the first bitter realities that Sasuke had to cope with in the days following the massacre. Even though he had found a teacher in Kakashi, he never found another person he could talk to openly. Though he didn't consciously realize it at the time, Sasuke was quickly opening up to her by the minute. "What…what do you think of me as, then?"

Her smile grew as she answered. "It's not really my right to do so, but I'm not sure your mother ever got the chance, so I guess I view you as my godson, 'ttebane." While her connection with Sasuke wasn't particularly strong in the general sense, she greatly sympathized with both him and Mikoto. As the mother of a child whom she never got to see grow up, she felt more than inclined to do as much as she could for a child who had suffered a similar fate.

Sasuke didn't even notice that his mouth was wide open. This woman was the first person he ever talked to about his family since the massacre, which was indicative of a strong relationship, at least as far as Sasuke went. She had a significant connection with his mother…and thought of him as family. Unable to think of what to say or do, he simply continued to stare at her.

"Why don't we get started?" she asked, breaking the silence. A hesitant nod later, and she took a stance a short distance away. "This one is called the Dragon Napalm technique. Watch closely, and make sure to activate your Sharingan!"

00.000.00

"You've almost got it. Again." Sakura weaved the series of hand seals as instructed, casting an illusion on the silver haired jonin. From his perspective, he was suddenly held taught by chains that had erupted from underneath his feet. A quick examination told Kakashi that the technique was successful; he could not move enough through the chains to break free. Obviously, a ninja decently versed in illusions could dispel it without much of a problem, but it was a good start. When used in a team setting, the few moments her opponent took to dispel the illusion would be all her team needed to finish off the target.

Of course, he wasn't about to stop there. The past couple days had been something of a wakeup call to him in many ways. He had been neglecting his duty to his team, especially in the month before the Chunin Exam finals. He'd left Sakura with no one to train her when she could have used that month to grow stronger. For too long he'd been negligent of her apathy when it came to training. Now, he was going to work her to the bone, if that was what it took.

With Kushina and Minato around, he mused, he could afford to give more attention to her individual training—one of the many tremendous advantages to having his favorite family around again.

00.000.00

A couple minutes of laughter later, Minato and Naruto sat side by side against a tree, resting in the shade. "I'm very impressed with you, Naruto." He couldn't help but feel pride and elation at his son's smile. "You definitely seem to fight and think in ways that are so unique that even _I_ get surprised. How many shadow clones can you _make_, anyway?"

Naruto answered after only a moment of thought. "About a thousand, I think."

_A…a THOUSAND? Holy sh…_ "Wow…you must have insane amounts of chakra…I guess the seal really did work out as intended, then. Before I go teaching you the big stuff, though, you _do_ need a lot of work on the basics."

"Huh? The basics?"

"Yeah, starting with your taijutsu. Your fighting style is pretty reliant on it, so if you improve that, then your ability as a whole will be much greater." Minato could not stop smiling at his son; on top of loving him more than anything (well, on equal ground with Kushina, he mentally clarified), he was finally getting to spend time with this son. He had not had even a moment with Naruto before his life was destroyed by that man twelve years ago. "Come on, show me your preferred stance and we'll work from there."

00.000.00

Constant wind blew across the dry plains of sand, creating a haze of yellowish-brown as far as the eye could see. He'd seen this sight many, many times before.

But he'd never seen this sight with someone else. Gaara had truly taken Naruto's words to heart; if friends could acknowledge his existence, then he would seek them out relentlessly. He had taken care not to do or say anything to his siblings that had bothered them before, and they had responded to that. While he could not recall how to act _nicely_ to people, he at least knew how to act neutrally towards them. When Temari or Kankuro had brought him a meal, he accepted it with a blank expression and a nod. After a few days of behavior like this, they no longer felt threatened to merely be around him. Earlier today, they had asked if he wanted to train with them, and he had accepted. The session had gone well, and he had realized that was a major step. If they were comfortable being around him when he used his sand in combat, then there was little they were truly threatened by in regards to him.

He tried to observe how others interacted with each other positively. One phrase which he continually picked up was '_thank you_'. He'd heard it many times before, but paid such interaction no mind, accepting it as something he could never experience.

Now, however, he was willing to try anything. The looks on his siblings' faces when he _thanked_ them for buying him a meal was heartening. At first, they were shocked, but the shock was quickly replaced by smiles. "You're welcome," they said.

It was the first time someone had smiled at him since Yashamaru had tried to kill him. Gaara instantly knew that Naruto was right; he had felt acknowledged, and all he did was say two simple words.

00.000.00

After the training, the Uzumaki family treated the whole team to lunch at a BBQ restaurant downtown. Figuring that the Chunin Exams were the best place to start the conversation, Minato didn't realize just how wild a tale it was. Almost immediately, he had to politely advise Naruto to speak slower for the benefit of everyone else. Since the boy looked up to his father almost reverently, he obeyed startlingly well.

"Well, the first part of the Exam was this stupid written test where the questions were _so_ hard! It was crazy! I don't know how we were supposed to know that stuff!"

"You mean you didn't _get_ the point of the test?" asked a stunned Sasuke.

"Point?"

Sasuke facepalmed. "You were supposed to _cheat_ to get the answers, idiot. The catch is that you weren't supposed to get _caught_ doing it."

Wide eyes confirmed that the blond had no idea that was the case. "Oooooh. So _that's_ how you were supposed to do it…"

"Wait a second," interjected Sakura, "if you didn't figure out the answers and you didn't cheat to get them, how did you do it?"

"Eh? I just left them blank."

"WHAT?" yelled a startled Sasuke. "You left them BLANK? And yet you decided to take the tenth question _anyway_?"

"Well yeah! Cuz if I got the tenth question right, then we wouldn't have failed!"

Kakashi chuckled at the situation. Of course, Naruto _would_ think like that. Any logical ninja wouldn't have risked remaining a genin forever when they hadn't been able to answer a single question beforehand. Only Naruto's bass ackwards thought process would have someone who was hopeless in the first exam actually pass it.

"The tenth question," Kakashi clarified for the sake of his sensei and Kushina, "was a psychological gambit. Ibiki said that if they chose not to take it, they all failed, but if they chose to take it and got it wrong, they would remain genin forever."

Minato smiled at his son. "So you chose to take the question?"

"Oh, he _more_ than chose to take it," commented Sasuke. "He slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and yelled that he would become Hokage even if he was stuck as a genin forever."

Naruto's parents beamed at their son in pride. It was such a _Kushina_ thing to do; they could not help but feel joy at their son's actions.

Kakashi had another laughing fit. "Ah…and I wished so much at the time that you and Kushina could see how similar you two are." Seeing mother and son share another moment brought happiness to his injured heart. "Well, what happened for the second part of the Exam?" He explained the rules of that test to Naruto's parents before allowing the genin to continue.

"Well," said Sakura, "we got a Heaven scroll, and headed into the forest. After a while, Sasuke-kun set up a long password so that we could identify each other. And at one point, Naruto went off to go…erm, pee, and when he came back, Sasuke demanded that he say the password, and he got it right, so Sasuke-kun attacked him."

"Wait, what?" asked Minato. "If he got it right then why…?"

Sasuke smirked. "Because I knew that there was no way he'd remember it, so it must have been an imposter." Naruto pouted in response, much to the amusement of his parents. "We fought off the imposter, but…things went downhill from there, fast. Naruto was nowhere to be found—"

"Hey! It's not my fault I was eaten by a giant snake from out of nowhere!"

Everyone at the table looked at Naruto in shock. "_Eaten by a giant snake?_" asked an incredulous Minato.

"Well yeah! It was disgusting! I had to make a ton of shadow clones to make it explode from the inside to escape!"

It took several seconds for everyone to imagine that.

"Anyway," continued Sasuke, "we were attacked by this freakish woman. She delivered such strong killing intent that we saw ourselves being killed…I could barely move. I managed to stab myself to erase the fear with pain, and retreated with Sakura. But that woman kept attacking us; she was freakishly strong. Then Naruto showed up…he told me not to give up our scroll. Now that I look back on it, I really have to thank you, Naruto…if I had surrendered the scroll, I think he might have killed me instead…"

"Wait, he?" asked Kushina.

Sasuke looked her dead in the eye. "We learned a little bit later that 'she' was actually Orochimaru of the Sannin."

Minato and Kushina gasped, thinking back to the day of their resurrection. Their son had faced _him_? It was a shuddering thought.

"He continued to fight us. At one point, he summoned this giant snake to attack us. Naruto…he managed to stop it dead in its tracks though…his...his eyes were _red_ though. Wait, how were your eyes _red_? You can't possibly have the Sharingan!" Sasuke looked at his teammate, now very curious and confused.

Naruto immediately stiffened at the mention of his 'red' eyes, right along with all of the adults present. Minato and Kushina knew exactly what their son was talking about; Kushina had been in that same state many times before. Minato wracked his mind for a way out of the situation, but Sasuke was clearly observant and intelligent. However…now that Minato was present and had claimed Naruto as his son, Kushina mused, surely his teammates wouldn't take it poorly?

"Naruto," Kushina said softly, "are you comfortable with telling them right now?" Her son glanced nervously between his teammates and his parents, but gave a shaky nod. Since his parents already knew, and they still loved him, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad…. "I could tell the story if you don't want to…"

"No," Naruto interrupted. "I should be the one to tell them." Sakura and Sasuke looked at their teammate, now intensely interested. "Erm…when my dad fought the Nine-Tailed Fox twelve years ago, he didn't kill it…he sealed it away…into…me…."

Two gasps and wide eyes resulted. Naruto squirmed at their reactions, worried. Sasuke, however, quickly understood. It explained a lot of things, from how Naruto had so much chakra to the way the villagers looked at him in the past. And if the Fourth himself was comfortable with it, he saw no reason to him to be afraid. "I see. That explains a lot. And…huh. Those whisker marks…is that why?" Naruto nodded, his eyes still on the table in front of him.

Sakura was unsure at first, but never really held any true fear. After all, no one else at the table—from the Fourth to Kakashi-sensei—seemed to make a big deal out of it. Since Sasuke seemed nonchalant about it, her worry faded away. "That's…really interesting, Naruto. How does it work, exactly?"

The blond boy looked up at his teammates, surprised that they didn't seem to be afraid of him or anything of the kind.

Seeing that Naruto himself likely didn't understand, Minato stepped in. "The seal keep the Nine-Tails contained, but it is designed to allow Naruto limited use of its chakra. It…also has a failsafe designed into it, which reminds me…"

Kakashi looked at his sensei with a raised eyebrow. "Reminds you of what, sensei?"

"Well, Kushina and I placed the last of our chakra into the seal so that we could meet you, one day, Naruto…" The bitter pain associated with that memory surfaced, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as before; he was having too many good experiences with his son to feel saddened by that. "…and, well, since we're alive, we can strengthen those failsafes. And place a Hiraishin seal into it."

Naruto smiled at the news. Though he was beyond glad that the seal's maker could improve on the seal which his life depended on, he was both extremely relieved and happy that his parents had somehow designed the seal so that he would one day meet them. The thought that he could have met them even if they weren't revived was comforting.

"Why don't you continue with the story, Sasuke?" asked the Fourth.

"Right…well, Naruto stopped the snake, but Orochimaru hit him with something that knocked him out for the rest of the fight. I then fought Orochimaru with everything I had, and thought I had actually won a couple times…but that man was just…_impossible_ to beat. He told me his name, and then bit me, placing some sort of seal onto me…"

"It was Orochimaru's cursed seal," Kakashi explained to the confused parents. "It can grant the user power, but it comes at a great risk; the process of adapting to the seal after it is first placed only has a one in ten survival rate. I've placed a containment seal around it, but removing it is beyond anyone's expertise…except perhaps you and Jiraiya-sama."

"I'll have to look into it," replied Minato. "Orochimaru is now dead, so the seal may be easier to remove now."

The food arrived a few moments later, causing a break in the story. Kushina was quick to correct Naruto's many bad eating habits, and to her pleasure, he was at an acceptable level of manners towards the end of the meal. Once Sakura had finished, she continued the story.

"After Orochimaru bit Sasuke-kun, he fell unconscious and that man fled. I collected them and tried to hide them until they woke up. I set traps around the place, but a team from Oto came to attack us. They said they were ordered to kill Sasuke-kun, and I tried to fight them off…but I didn't stand a chance. And then Lee-san showed up and saved us. He was strong…but that Oto guy had strange powers and defeated him. And then Ino's team showed up and helped us out, but things still weren't going well. But that all changed when Sasuke-kun woke up. He was really powerful, and he easily beat the Oto team…but he was really scary, too. He had these weird markings all over his body at the time."

Sasuke hid his face at the memory. While the cursed seal had indeed made him feel very powerful, it was a huge hindrance later on. Even if it helped him a little in his fight against Gaara, it was embarrassing to hear about it being discussed in front of so many people. It made the seal seem…like something to be ashamed of.

"I calmed Sasuke-kun down, and he went back to normal…and we got a scroll from the Oto team before they retreated. From there, we spend some time recuperating until we met up with Kabuto…"

Kakashi's head jerked towards his student. "_Kabuto_? Didn't he attack you? He was an Oto spy!"

"No," said Sakura, "he actually helped us out. Actually, if he hadn't shown up when he did, we would have failed the test. He helped us fight off another team and get their scroll. That's how we passed that test, though by the end of it we were totally exhausted."

"Strange…." remarked Kakashi. "Well, I can take it from here, I guess. Because so many of the applicants made it, there was a preliminary round, which was a series of one on one fights, with the winner advancing to the finals. Sasuke had trouble because of his cursed seal, but managed to use Lee's taijutsu style to win. Sakura fought Ino blow for blow, ending in a double elimination tie, so neither advanced. Naruto faced Kiba, an Inuzuka. It was actually rather interesting; he surprised us all there."

"How?" asked an eager Minato. Even Sasuke was very interested; he'd missed both of his teammate's fights.

"Well, he took a big hit right from the start, and everyone thought he was finished right then and there…but he got right back up, of course. He managed to trick Kiba at one point. Kiba had used a beast transformation with his hound, thus making them both look identical. Since Kiba used a smokescreen to make the most out of his sensory advantage, Naruto transformed into a copy of Kiba when the smoke cleared. They all looked identical, so Kiba couldn't tell who was who at first, but his smell told him the answer, and Kiba hit Naruto right in the face. However, Naruto transformed right into Kiba's hound, tricking Kiba into thinking he had actually hit his companion, and turned around and slugged the other Kiba clone. Naturally, this took Kiba's hound out of the fight, while Naruto got back onto his feet.

"Then…well, things got rather…_interesting_. Kiba still held the advantage in speed and taijutsu, since Naruto was too chakra exhausted to use clones en masse like usual, and he didn't seem to stand a chance…until Naruto farted at point blank range, right into Kiba's nose."

Kushina broke into hysterical laughter while Minato just gaped at his son. Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow at his teammate.

"That gave Naruto the opening he needed, and he made four shadow clones, and hit Kiba with an impromptu taijutsu combo, winning the match."

Minato smiled at his son, growing familiar with his son's tactics quite fast. "Wow…nice job, Naruto!"

The blond shied under the praise, but smiled. Sasuke felt a little sour by the exchange, recalling the total lack of praise and acknowledgement from the people he cared about the most. Sensing this, Kushina tried to alleviate his bitter thoughts. "You copied Lee-san's taijutsu, didn't you, Sasuke?"

A small nod was all she got for a response. "The fact that you managed to win despite exhausted and hampered by _Orochimaru's_ cursed seal is a feat in and of itself. It seems that the will to never give up is something you and Naruto share, Sasuke."

He finally met her eyes, his expression noticeably softer. Kushina mentally sighed in relief, happy that she was able to cheer him up.

"Indeed," added Kakashi. "These two have a knack for not stopping until their body gives out on them first. Though I must give credit to Sakura, as well; she really gave it her all in her match with Ino."

Sakura blushed, happy to have a little acknowledgement for her efforts. She was no fool, though, and knew that she was nowhere near the level her teammates were on.

"After that, Lee-san fought against Gaara, the One-Tails jinchuuriki."

"Jinchuuriki?" asked Sakura.

"A host of a tailed beast. There are nine tailed beasts; the more tails, the more powerful it is. Gaara's tailed beast was the One-Tailed Shukaku, while Naruto holds the most powerful one of them all, the Nine-Tailed Fox. Of course, we didn't know that Gaara was a jinchuuriki at the time. Gaara controls sand that he keeps in a gourd. It's able to form a strong, omnidirectional defense. Lee, who is only able to use taijutsu due to a defect in his chakra coils, lacked the tools to win. That said, he fought on an incredible level, using nothing but taijutsu to push Gaara around and wound him. He even used up to five of the celestial gates, and almost defeated Gaara, but the damage done to his own body was too great. Gaara crushed his leg and arm…and Lee-san won't be able to recover enough from his injuries to resume his ninja career."

Minato and Kushina frowned at the news. "Is there any way to heal his injuries?" he asked.

Kakashi sighed. "No one in Konoha has the ability to heal something like that…he'd need the best there is to even have a chance. And Tsunade-sama left the village a long time ago."

Minato made a mental note to consider the possibility later before asking his student to continue.

"Well, everyone was given a month after that to prepare for the final matches. I assigned Ebisu-san, a special jonin instructor, to teach Naruto while I taught Sasuke, who shares a similar fighting style to me. Though how you managed to get Jiraiya-sama to help you, I have no idea."

"Jiraiya-sensei is his godfather," answered Minato.

"Really?" Naruto asked. "Wow…he's a weird guy. On my first day with Ebisu, we were training at the hot springs. He was teaching me how to walk on water, which was really hard. Then he sees this guy peeping through the fence, and goes over to yell at him, but Pervy-sage knocks him out without even trying!"

"_Pervy-sage?_" Minato repeated incredulously. A moment later, he burst into laughter. "That fits him, all right. I'm gonna have to remember that one."

"Anyway, I told him that since he knocked out my teacher, he'd have to teach me. And I followed him around, begging him, until he finally said he would. I got the water walking right on the first day, and he had me sign the toad contract after that. That's what I worked on for most of the month, and he tried to get me to use…the Nine-Tails' chakra."

"And that's how you summoned Gamabunta?" asked Minato.

He nodded. "Well, kinda. I wasn't getting it right at all, until only a couple days were left. It wasn't until he pushed me off a cliff that I—"

"HE _WHAT_?" yelled everyone at the table, some louder than others. Minato scowled. He was going to have a _serious_ talk with his sensei the next time he saw him.

"He pushed me off a cliff into a ravine, and I entered…this weird place. It was dark and creepy…it was like a leaky sewer or something. And then I walked into a room, and there was this huge cage with a seal on it…" Kushina realized what her son was talking about; the giant cage was where the Nine-Tails was jailed, but the sewer…her thoughts took a depressing turn. That was his mindscape, she realized. It was a damn _sewer_…she could hardly imagine what could have caused that. "…and then the Fox appeared. And I said that if it was staying in my body, it had to give me some chakra as rent, and—"

"You _what?_" asked Minato. Kushina, however, understood better than anyone. While she had been rather disrespectful towards the Fox herself, that was after she was able to chain it down with her chakra. She was growing more impressed by her son's antics by the minute.

"And it gave me some chakra, and I used that to summon Gamabunta in the ravine, and it stopped my fall. And then we climbed out."

Understanding flooded Minato and Kushina's minds. _So he was trying to force him to use the Fox's chakra? Still, that was beyond reckless, he could have died._ "Has he done anything like that before?" asked Minato.

"Huh? No. I never met him before he started training me."

Minato discretely tightened his fists until they turned white. _He's got a LOT of explaining to do…_ Kushina didn't even bother to hide the bulging vein in her forehead or frown on her face.

Confused by his parent's actions, Naruto decided to continue. "Anyway, the day of the finals came, and I had the first match against Neji Hyuga." Naruto then went on to describe his fight, including Neji's 'destiny' mentality. When Naruto described Neji's anguish over his caged bird seal and his father's death, Minato cringed. The Hyuga matter was something he always hated, and planned to eventually change as Hokage.

He was especially impressed at his son's tenacity, who kept on fighting despite having his chakra completely sealed off. He drew on the Nine-Tails chakra without transforming, earning praise from Kushina, who didn't manage such a feat until she was 16. Kushina wanted to cheer when he told how he slugged Neji from underground, winning the match. "He said that he should have expected me to use another shadow clone, because it was my best technique. I told him that I failed the Academy Graduation Exam three times, and my worst technique was the clone technique…which I still can't do."

Slightly put off at the remark that his son had failed the graduation exam three times, his mind switched to a more confusing matter. "You can't do the clone technique?"

"No, it would always turn out funny. Dunno why."

Filing that information for later, Minato motioned for Naruto to continue.

"After that, there was a match between Shikamaru and some crazy lady with a huge fan. Shikamaru did some cool thing with his shadow and looked like he won, but at the end he just gave up 'cuz he was too lazy."

"And then we showed up," said Kakashi. "For Sasuke's match against Gaara."

Kushina turned to look at the Uchiha with wide eyes. "You had to fight a jinchuuriki?"

"Yeah," replied the copy ninja. "And Gaara…well, he was insane, there's no other way to put it. He had a fascination with killing people, and seems to be bipolar, likely due to his tailed beast's influence."

Hearing about the awful treatment of her kind, Kushina cringed. Her husband noticed this, and put and arm around her for comfort.

"Sasuke fought well. He used Lee's copied taijutsu and his improved speed to slip past Gaara's automatic defenses, and Gaara formed his and into a solid sphere to protect himself. Sasuke then used the technique I had focused the month on training him: the Chidori."

Minato raised an eyebrow at that. "You taught him your signature, original technique?"

Kakashi nodded. "He has the Sharingan and a lightning affinity, so it makes perfect sense. He is my student, after all. Anyway, Sasuke used the technique successfully, injuring Gaara. After that, though, all hell broke loose as the invasion began. From there…well, I guess you know the rest."

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto.

Uncertain, Kakashi glanced between his student and his sensei. "I'll tell them," said Minato. "During the invasion, Orochimaru attacked the Third. During the fight, he used a forbidden, dark technique to summon the dead to fight; that's how your mother and I are alive now. However, the technique has several problems, which is why it is forbidden. First, it requires a second technique to actually restore the original form of those summoned. Second, the technique itself requires a human sacrifice—a life for a life—and third, the one sacrificed has to willingly go along with it for it to work. And it can't work if the sacrifice is mortally wounded; there has to be equivalent life energy. Orochimaru implanted seals into two of his summons to turn them into mindless killing machines. He nearly succeeded in doing the same with me and your mother…"

Naruto gaped at his parents, fearfully. Kushina noticed that he was not the only one; Kakashi and his team joined in.

Sighing, the Fourth continued. "But we managed to resist, and since we were returned to our original forms…well, we were alive at that point. And we killed Orochimaru." An idea suddenly sparked into Minato's head, though he felt that it was neither the time nor place to voice it. "Though there is something I _don't_ know. How exactly did you manage to defeat Gaara, Naruto?"

The fight, as they found out through Naruto's storytelling, was incredible, especially for genin. But when he talked about Naruto and Gaara's shared experience of total loneliness, Minato and Kushina could not keep their eyes and lips from drooping in depression and guilt. The shimmer of hope came, however, when Gaara seemed to respond to Naruto's advice. The parents could take consolation in the fact that they were finally reunited with their son that day.

00.000.00

"What do you think, Kushina?"

The redhead looked around the living room once more. "I love it! How about you, Naruto? What do _you_ think?"

Naruto didn't really understand how anyone could be so picky. These homes were _huge_! Just the living room of each one, which was a type of room he never even had at all, was bigger than his whole apartment! "It's awesome!"

"Then I think we have a winner," said Minato. The house was the third one they had looked at, and this one was closest to the Hokage Tower of the three. While the Hokage Manor was strategically placed near the Tower, such proximity was pointless for the Yellow Flash. He also wanted a more homely environment instead of the huge excess of space of the Manor. Though they could afford the house easily through the money they had saved up over the years, Hiruzen stated that any house they chose would be free since their old home had been sold off; regardless, he said, they could have had the Hokage Manor if they chose, so it was only fair. "Well then, Kushina, Naruto," Minato said as he pulled them into an embrace. "This will be our new home."

Naruto smiled at the thought. "Home…"

* * *

A/N: Thoughts?

Questions for you guys:

1) Did you notice any improvement in this chapter from the last few ones? If so, what? (Be specific, please)

2) How realistic are the interactions between Naruto, his parents, and Team 7? How good are they?

3) What were your favorite parts about the chapter?

4) What were your least favorite parts about the chapter?

5) Any advice, criticism, ideas?

6) This one is just for fun. Try and predict what will happen next. I may tell you if you're right!

**Seriously, PLEASE review. **I spend hours writing these chapters, I'd appreciate it if you guys took the time to at least give one sentence answers to these 5 questions. Though really, I'm trying to improve constantly. Just saying "it's good" or "I liked it" is nice to hear, but it doesn't help me and isn't the best motivation.

Until next time!


	5. Plans

A/N: Update date - 8/12/10.

What's this? An update?

I know, I know. I've really done a bad job with getting this done quickly. Frankly, I had half of it written for over a week, but hit writer's block (as well as plot-block, if you will) until tonight. I'll be gone for most of tomorrow, so don't expect another update super-quickly or anything, but I'll try and put something up Friday now that I'm back into my groove.

About the chess thing: I know it's not entirely fitting, setting-wise, but it's a necessity one way or the other. Sorry.

And I really appreciate your feedback; your reviews have been nothing short of awesome and encouraging.

Personal Responses:

Mystic 777: Gaara will return to the story more quickly than he did in canon; I'm planning on conclusing the Chunin Exams properly, and Gaara will be an important part of that. As for rocky points with his family; Naruto is too overjoyed to have any serious disagreements, at least so far. He's essentially had his greatest desire fulfilled, so he doesn't feel the need to complain about anything right now.

metafx: Sasuke will get more development, you can rest assured of that. Minato is definitely going to be affectionate though; I know that we've Minato and Kushina act as you're suggesting in the manga, but those were very extreme circumstances. Had Naruto and Konoha not been in the crisis of Pain's invasion, and had Minato had more time with Naruto, I think the affection would have shown more. Thanks for the review!

imouto12345: Sasuke learning the truth will come, but not quite yet. Minato meant that Sasuke should know soon as in not "when he's several years older."

Tithenannisss: Your concern about Naruto being too recipient is addressed in this chapter, so enjoy :) Your review has certainly helped. Thank you!

Anonymous: You needn't worry about the character bashing; I hate it too (except when it comes to Madara; that guy can burn in fanfiction hell). That said, Kishi never really explained why Jiraiya didn't do jack sh** for Naruto until he was 12. As for the Kyuubi thing, I think he's much more willing to reveal the truth to his teammates because his parents are there to reassure him. Kushina was the previous junchuuriki for the Kyuubi and told him so, and that makes him feel much more confident that he won't be rejected. He's also got the Fourth Hokage there to back him up, so he's not nearly as worried. Naruto will improve in many ways, though I will try my hardest not to make him Marty Stu. He won't be learning Sage Mode before he would in the manga. That said, he'll see a lot of the same type of improvement that we saw between Part 1 and Part 2; he'll fight more intelligently and use what tools he has much more effectively. I don't want to focus on pairings for a while. I feel that Naruto coming to a realization that Sakura really doesn't deserve his fawning is realistic, though. It will not kill the pairing by any means, but merely put those kinds of thoughts on hold.

Tempest86: Yeah, I'm kind of confused as well. I sent him a message, politely asking him to clarify his criticisms so that I could improve, but never got a reply. Oh well.

mortalhelix: I appreciate your review! As for the questions at the end; they're merely there to help readers focus their thoughts when reviewing. They're entirely optional. I find those types of questions helpful to me both as a reviewer and an author, as it can really help you improve in specific areas.

TheDragonSage: I see what you're saying about splitting up that part. It could have worked better that way. However, I won't write things differently just because some readers skip over punctuation (their damn loss, really) and read it differently than as it is intended. Still, thanks for pointing that out; I really appreciate your review. As for Itachi crashing the Chunin Exams...perhaps if the last ones weren't crashed by an INVASION I might consider that. But they really need to conclude normally this time.

trackrunner525: Naruto really is a very forgiving person. In a situation where Naruto would be most upset about having the fox sealed into him than any other time, he merely yelled at his father and punched him once and then forgave him. In this situation, he's receiving a ton of love and apologies from his PARENTS and he has no reason to be angry with his mother. He's simply too happy to be upset or angry with them.

MadmanTobz: You flatter me :) Thank you so much!

Piper Julian: Thank you for that...I've tried to work on that in this chapter. Hopefully it worked...

Dracon90: Bass Ackwards is actually intentional; it's *ss Backwards...backwards, in a sense. You get what I mean. And I've tried to work on that a bit with this chapter, please let me know if it improved. And as for the shadow clone part...yes, he will. Indeed.

BKwriter: There is no such thing as a 'too elaborate review'. Thanks so much for it! Minato and Kushina are the same age (Tobirama and Hashirama certainly did not look decades older than their last known appearances). As for your ideas...just wait and see :)

Zathol: Ebisu's reflection during the Pain Invasion shows that by the time of the Chunin Exam finals, many of the villagers looked at Naruto in a neutral or positive light. I feel that a majority would be receptive to the idea that Naruto is Minato's son (once word of mouth spreads from the Konoha 12).

EvilPopcorn: Too motherly? She's trying to make up for 12 years of having no mother at all. I guess you can say she's acting like Naruto's still her baby.

Femme Feminista: Thank you so much!

Shinigami: No pairings will "die" at this point; rather, all of them will be put on hold for a while.

Sorry if I didn't address you personally; I do very much appreciate your reviews nonetheless and love reading them!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Plans**

When Kakashi told Sasuke that they would be doing another D-rank mission, they grunted in annoyance. But when they had shown up at Naruto's apartment, they were _more_ than curious.

"The mission, as you may have guessed, is to help our teammate pack up his things and move into his new home, and help him set up the house." Kakashi smiled as he delivered the punch-line. "And since Naruto is the client, he is technically our boss. Where do you want us to start, Naruto?"

The blond boy grinned in satisfaction when he saw the incredulous looks on his teammates' faces. He knew that his possessions fit in a couple boxes and he could carry anything he needed with a personal army of shadow clones, but this was an opportunity he couldn't pass up. Besides, he _had_ received a big A-rank mission pay from when he defeated Gaara. His parents were quick to jump at the chance to invite his team over without giving Sasuke a chance to back out for personal reasons. "The clothes are already packed, so that just leaves some of the other stuff in the kitchen. The empty box is on the table. Well, get to work!"

Sasuke closed his mouth, smothered his pride, and did exactly that. Trying to keep his mind off of the embarrassment of _working for_ his knucklehead teammate, he looked around the small apartment, which he had never seen before. He never concerned himself with anyone else's living conditions, but this surprised him. It was very small—just the bare minimum for a living space—and had almost nothing in the way of personal effects. Their team photo sat on the dresser—which Naruto adamantly lectured him as the last thing to be packed away—and a few kitchen utensils and plate stacks later, they had finished. "Now!" shouted Naruto, "onward! I'll lead the way."

So it was a waste of money, Naruto knew. He could live with that, considering the looks on their faces had been _priceless_. Not to mention ordering Sasuke around—and having a few laughs at his expense. The people on the street gawked at him; nearly everyone who was walking with someone else was whispering. Most people's looks were neutral or positive, but Naruto noticed a few who glared at him colder than ever. With years of practice, he tuned them out as he led his team down the streets.

Arriving at the newly purchased Uzumaki house, Naruto entered to find his parents sorting out some appliances and groceries in the kitchen. "I'm home!" he announced, his parents turning to smile at him. Setting the first box (which contained the kitchen related items) down on the island counter, Naruto led Sakura up to his room with the other box. "You can just leave that one on the floor over here, I'll unpack that stuff."

She set the box down, but hesitated in standing back up. After a few seconds, she steeled her resolve and turned to face him. "Naruto, I…I wanted to apologize to you for treating you so meanly…I shouldn't have, and…I'm really sorry. I've been stupid and...and shallow, and I've been thinking the wrong way all this time. Sasuke told me that you were the one who saved from from that Gaara...and I can't thank you enough for that. I've taken you for granted and I promise I won't do that anymore." Too ashamed to look him in the eye, Sakura avoided his gaze, fidgeting in the uncomfortable situation.

Naruto stared at her, his mouth agape. She was…_apologizing_ to him? For nearly half a minute, he remained silent, unable to process a response. "I-…it's okay, Sakura."

_Just like that?_ wondered Sakura. _Just like that…he forgives me? Why?_ Meeting his eyes, she saw that his expression was unusually somber, his smile smaller and less cheerful.

Sakura's apology brought attention to the facts he rarely gave much thought to—mainly, the harsh treatment she had just apologized for. He didn't dislike her or hold a grudge or anything, but she suddenly seemed less like the image he had mentally built for her. After having a new foundation of love and care to lean on from his parents, Naruto no longer felt the need to chase after her acceptance. Confused by this, he decided to get out of the awkward situation and work it out later. "Come on, I bet everyone's wondering what's taking us so long."

Down in the kitchen, Kushina called over to Sasuke. "Could you bring the plate stacks over, please?" He silently complied. "Thank you." She looked at him sympathetically when his back was turned. Minato had told her all about the Uchiha Massacre the same night he had learned about it, and it took a while for him to convince her to not go and kill the elders herself. That, he said, should wait just a little while longer until they could figure out exactly how to approach the situation.

Needless to say, her empathy for both him and Mikoto only grew.

00.000.00

Minato never once blamed Kakashi for not taking care of Naruto throughout his childhood. Sakumo's suicide had severely affected Kakashi, but it wasn't until Obito's death that the emotional trauma began to show. He was a mess; he didn't know what he was doing with his life, and for a child in a war, that was a very dangerous thing. Rin became his living emotional crutch, and his promise to Obito to protect her was what kept him going.

When she died, Minato had to keep a close eye on his student, and it was a good thing, too. Kakashi had nearly followed in his father's footsteps. Minato had been able to convince his student that he could always find a purpose in preventing anyone from experiencing his own emotional pain, and Kakashi clinged to that idea as if his life depended on it.

Which, Minato guessed, was probably true. The pure apathy and laziness that Kakashi usually displayed disappeared the instant someone was in danger, and then he became the legendary Copy Ninja of Konoha, striking down all who threatened his comrades without hesitation or mercy.

So Minato never blamed his student for not being a caretaker for his son. Before him stood a broken man. One whose skills were legend and could behave somewhat normally, but a broken man nonetheless. Being a fatherly figure to an orphan who was scorned by the village would have been beyond his emotional capacity.

"So you think we'll be able to resume the Chunin Exam finals in a week or two?" asked the silver-haired man.

Shrugging, Minato plugged a blender into the wall, on the kitchen counter. "If all goes well, yes. Though one week would be extremely optimistic; two weeks is a practical minimum, I'd say. A month is more likely. What's your take on the candidates?"

Leaning against the counter with his hands in his pockets, Kakashi looked at the ceiling in contemplation as he spoke. "Well, I think Shikamaru Nara should be promoted based on the first match alone. He's a tactical genius, despite his laziness, and can put up a good fight when he needs to. Promoting him would force some responsibility onto his shoulders, which would be good for him.

"Shino Aburame never got to fight in the finals, due to his opponent backing out immediately, but I saw his fight in the preliminaries. He's got the perfect mindset, and could quite possibly meet the skill level for chunin status. If I had to decide right now, I would promote him.

"Neji Hyuga is very skilled, there's no question about that, but his mentality is very flawed. That may have changed recently, but as of right now I think it's best to teach him some humility first and make sure he's had a change of heart before promoting him.

"Sasuke…is an interesting case. Skill-wise, he's definitely at chunin level. Mentality-wise, it varies. He usually keeps a cool head, has good analytical abilities, and strategizes appropriately. His fight with Gaara demonstrated that, I think. But whenever his family or brother is concerned, he loses that completely. Unless we run into his brother out there or a potential lead on him, I think Sasuke is already a chunin in everything except rank."

Minato processed the information characteristically quickly. "And Naruto?"

Kakashi sighed, looking at the ground. "Another interesting case. He has a ton of raw power, and has a _Kage_ level summon. His tactics can range from naïve and downright suicidal to genius and innovative. Mentally, I don't think he's nearly at the chunin level. He's boisterous, loud, and charges straight into a situation without taking any time to think it through on a constant basis. He takes a long time to grasp anything subtle. However, I've noticed a lot of improvement throughout the exams; he's grown tremendously in a short amount of time. With you and Kushina helping him, I think he may be chunin material as soon as the next exams."

Nodding in assent, the Fourth leaned on the island countertop across from his student. "And therein lies the problem. Now that people know I'm his father, Naruto's a high value target. The Chunin Exams, where he'll be in mortal danger as part of the exam, is the perfect opportunity for assassination without consequences. Unless the Exams are held in Suna next—assuming negotiations go well and our alliance holds—I don't think it's wise to allow him to participate. Either he'll have to wait until they're held in a safe village next, or I'll have to give him a field promotion. Only the second option is actually safe."

"Well, we'll have to see what happens next, then. In the meantime, I think Naruto needs a family far more than he needs to train. That said, I think training with you is his new favorite thing."

Looking up to find his student smiling, Minato matched the sentiment.

00.000.00

Naruto managed to avoid further awkwardness with Sakura for the rest of the 'mission', to his relief. After bidding the rest of Team 7 farewell, Minato brought his family over to the table. "So," he said with a smile, "what do you want to do today, Naruto?"

Surging with joy and excitement, Naruto's grin grew. Getting used to the idea of having parents was difficult, but he had plenty of experience when it came to adjusting to new situations. As soon as he knew they were real, he never looked back or doubted them. No one could possibly be so nice to him and not mean it. He _knew_ the difference, at least he did now.

As he thought about his father's question, the answer was obvious. In the Academy, he had been training constantly in a futile attempt to overtake Sasuke, and he had great difficulty making friends in that time anyway. After that, he took to training even more now that it truly mattered—and that Sasuke was getting stronger all the time. If it wasn't going to eat ramen, it was training.

When he heard his son's answer, Minato smirked. He knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Naruto would expect another sparring session and hoped that he wouldn't be disappointed by playing chess (A/N: since I don't know the rules of shogi, aka Japanese chess, I'll stick with regular chess instead, sorry) instead. The boy had a ton of power, so the training he needed most was entirely mental. Chess would, hopefully, force him to learn some strategical thinking.

Naruto's shock when Minato pulled out the chess set was definitely worth a short chuckle, in his opinion. "You need to work on how you think more than anything else. You need to learn strategy, and chess is a great place to start." After explaining the rules, he had Kushina play as he watched with a smile. Moments like these…they were exactly the type of thing that he and Kushina thought they had lost a dozen years ago.

Of course, he ended up re-explaining the rules several times throughout the first match and after the fifth time the boy caught on. "Now that her knight is threatening both your rook and bishop, what are your options?"

Kushina had to stifle her laughter as her son furrowed his brows in concentration. "I could take the knight?" he asked, looking up at his father as if waiting for approval.

"If you can do that, then yes, that is your best option. Is there a piece that can take her knight this turn?"

Blue eyes swept across the board. "No…"

"So," Minato continued, "now that you know you can't take the knight this turn, what's the next best thing?"

"Move one of the pieces out of the way?"

"That's a good option. Which one do you want to save?" Minato tried to hide the pain from his face as the memory surfaced yet again. _Your son or your wife…_

Naruto pointed at the bishop, surprising both of his parents. The rook was widely regarded as more valuable than a bishop, especially because it was not limited to moving only on black or white squares. "Why is that?" asked a truly puzzled Minato.

"Because the bishop is sneaky."

After enjoying several seconds of laughter, Minato ruffled his son's hair. Naruto's logic was quite interesting, but fit him to a T. "That's certainly a good way of thinking about it. There is one other thing you can do, though, that could save both of your pieces."

Naruto looked up at his father intently. The possibility of saving both when you were forced to chose? "How?"

Minato smirked at his son. "By forcing your opponent to deal with something else, first, while you rescue your pieces at the same time." He watched Naruto process his words, hoping that he would remember them. _If only I had been able to pull it off myself, twelve years ago…_

Armed with the new idea, Naruto narrowed his eyes at the board. _Attack and defend at the same time?_ he considered. _An attack that forces the other guy to worry about defending first._ Scanning his remaining pieces, Naruto settled on moving his threatened bishop forward to a position where it threatened his mother's knight.

"Good try, Naruto," Kushina said as she smirked knowingly. Taking the rook in exchange for her knight, she added, "but sometimes your opponent is willing to trade if they think they have the better deal."

Frustrated that his plan had failed, the boy groaned.

00.000.00

Determination was a quality Lee valued above all others. The will to never give up, no matter what, was what drove him, and what gave his life purpose. He had suffered from a defect in his chakra coils that _should_ have made life as a ninja impossible and futile, yet he had persevered and done it anyway. Through martial arts and constant training alone, he was unquestionably one of Konoha's strongest genin.

Or at least, that was what he thought a week ago. Even his iron will was cracked and bruised when the doctors told him that his ninja career was permanently over, and that he would be using a cane to walk for the rest of his life. No, that would certainly not have stopped him completely, for he kept conditioning himself regardless, whilst his teammates (even Neji, to his shock) encouraged him.

So that's how he found himself walking down the busy streets of downtown Konoha with them, despite the stern lectures about bed rest from the medics. It felt great to at least be moving about with his team, allowing him to temporarily ignore the permanence of his injury, and pretend that he was merely recovering from a minor training accident while spending time with his team.

If only he could ignore the stares, too. The constant pitying looks from everyone who looked at him (and there were many) were like knives to his heart, like chisels chipping away at his determination.

"Fuzzy-brows?"

00.000.00

After a dozen games of chess, Naruto's short attention span could take no more. Deciding that it was time to get out of the house, Kushina determined the next order of business in a manner that left no room for argument.

Not that Minato disagreed; orange wasn't necessarily a bad color, but a bright orange-and-blue jumpsuit/tracksuit was definitely _not_ something to be worn on missions. Clothes shopping it was, then.

Neither Minato nor Kushina could stop smiling recently; less than a few weeks ago (or so it seemed, from their perspective), spending just a few minutes to see their son grown up was a comforting dream in a situation of despair and tragedy. So they treated every minute as a blessing, and every day as a miracle.

And to their relief, Naruto was taking the sudden changes well. After so long without parents or loved ones, anything he received was more than he ever expected. He barely noticed that his mother was spending a lot of time with Sasuke; he was beyond content to have the love and recognition of his father and hero. Besides, he subconsciously reasoned, she showed her love for him all the time. Before, a single such act would have been like a dream come true. He was nowhere near that spoiled to demand his parents' attention all the time.

As he cheerfully led his parents down the main street of Konoha (years of practice ignoring their looks and stares made him nearly oblivious to the fact that they were smiling at him and his parents), the sight of a green, spandex-wearing ninja shook him out of his happy mood. In the excitement of Jiraiya's training, the tournament, the invasion, and his parents' return, he had completely forgotten the nightmarish injuries that Lee had sustained. Seeing the guy who looked so powerful, so graceful, and so fast limping along on crutches was painful. "Fuzzy-brows?"

Lee's head shook as if electrocuted, snapping out of his thoughts and greeted them with a smile. "Naruto-kun, Hokage-sama, and…erm…"

"Kushina," finished the redhead. "You must be the Lee we've heard all about. It's nice to meet you."

It was one thing to hear about the tragedy that had befallen the promising taijutsu specialist from the stoic Kakashi, but quite another to see what he had been reduced to in person, Minato decided. Forcing cold logic aside, he pushed finding Tsunade to one of his top priorities.

Lee regarded his blond peer with admiration and respect. He was truly a shining example of hard work prevailing over genius. He accomplished what Lee could not and defeated Neji against all odds. When Lee had first encountered Naruto just before the first portion of the Exams, he wrote off the hyperactive kid as brash and likely nothing to pay attention to.

Much like everyone else did to him in his Academy days, as he was ashamed to admit later on. And look how wrong he was, he thought. That same boy had become strong enough to defeat Neji _and_ Gaara, and turned out to be the legendary Fourth Hokage's _son_.

Naruto was, as Lee now put it, the epitome of how hard work and determination could beat genius and inherent power.

To everyone's astonishment, it was Neji who spoke up first. "Naruto-san," he said, acting…_shy_, Lee realized—something he had never seen before. "I owe you an apology…you were right. You always have a choice…you make your own destiny. I wish I had seen it before. Even with these all-seeing eyes, I was blind to what you saw all along. I'm sorry."

Only Naruto was unsurprised about Neji's confession. After a moment, he grinned, walked up to the Hyuga, and lightly socked him in the arm. "You don't have to apologize to me for anything. The one you should be apologizing to is Hinata. Seriously, I punched you and got applause for it. What else could I ask for?"

While everyone (except for the slightly-less-stoic Neji) smiled at the exchange, Kushina actually giggled in amusement. Noticing a lingering silence, she stepped in. "Well, we've got errands to run, but it's been great to meet you all!"

00.000.00

"What's wrong with orange?" Naruto protested.

Minato knelt down to his son's level. "It stands out way too much, and during missions that could easily be fatal."

"Fatal?"

"Resulting in death."

"Oh."

They had been doing that on an almost constant basis the past couple days. They would speak with normal and advanced vocabulary, and encourage Naruto to ask whenever he didn't understand something. The boy had a natural curiosity, which they gleefully noticed, and the result was a steady improvement in speech skills. Applying that same method to everything from manners to life lessons, Minato and Kushina were determined to make up for 12 years of absence.

"Like you're one to talk, Minato!" The blond Hokage looked up at his wife with a raised eyebrow. "You wear a white and orange cloak and sport bright blond hair!"

"Yeah!" Naruto yelled in agreement.

Minato shot her a look of mock grief over her betrayal. "Fine. How about we make a deal, Naruto? When you become Hokage, you can wear whatever you want on missions."

Kushina spotted his ploy immediately. 'When,' not 'if.' Naruto wouldn't be able to say no; it was like mentally marking his dream as more than achievable by saying yes.

_Well,_ Minato thought as they walked out of the store, bags of purchases in hand, _that leaves the hard part._ They dropped the bags off at the house, but he stopped in front of Naruto. "I'm sorry to have to do this, Naruto, but your mother and I need to go talk to someone in private." He pulled out one of his tri-pronged kunai and handed it to his son. "If you really need me, just pour some chakra into this kunai and I'll be there in a flash. We'll try to be back as soon as we can." Hating the idea of leaving his son for even a moment, he nonetheless knew that he couldn't put this off any longer. Pulling his son into a tight hug, he whispered, "I love you."

As soon as he did, he felt his son squeeze him much harder, and each smiled in understanding. After nearly a minute, he broke the embrace and stood up. Kushina, however, could not bear to walk out the door without her son. Forming a shadow clone, she gave Naruto a hug of her own. "My clone will keep you company while we're away, okay? I love you, 'ttebane."

When she broke her embrace, she gently wiped the tears that strolled down his cheeks, kissed his forehead, and ruffled his hair. "We'll be back before you know it," she said as they walked out the door.

00.000.00

Jiraiya repressed a giggle as he peered through the self-created hole in the fence at the hot springs. He had indeed missed Konoha.

Although he had been overjoyed at the revival of his student and Kushina, he thought it best to give them some space for a while. _Okay_, he admitted, _so it's more like I'm avoiding their wrath in the hope that they'll forget about…_

"Jiraiya-sensei."

Turning around slowly, Jiraiya took in the sight of a frowning, _very_ serious Minato and a seething Kushina and appreciated what was likely to be the last thing he ever saw.

_Oh…SHIT._

* * *

A/N: **I am NOT setting up NaruHina or anything like that. I'm putting all pairings on hold for a while. So don't panic and drop this story because there might be a background pairing you don't like.**

Don't worry about Jiraiya; he won't suffer from character bashing. It's just that Kishi didn't really leave me with much material to give him a good excuse.

Optional questions for your reviews:

1) What were your favorite parts of this chapter? **Why?**

2) Your least favorite parts? **Why?**

3) Criticism, complaints?

4) Ideas you would like to see in the story? Predictions?

5) How well and realistically is the Sasuke/Kushina relationship developing, in your eyes?

6) How are the Naruto/Minato/Kushina moments?

7) Are things realistic (within Naruto's standards)? Believable?

Until next time!


	6. Notice A note

Hey guys,

No, I'm not dead. I've just moved in to college, and I have little idea when I'll get into my groove here. In other words, I have no idea when I'll be able to get back to a semi-regular update schedule. I'll try and keep you posted on my profile, so check that if you're curious. Until then, I'm sorry for not updating in so long. Please bear with me!


	7. Announcement

Hey all! I know, it's not an update, BUT:

**I am planning to do a rewrite of this story.** It will have the same general premise, but it will have a different tone and approach. And, hopefully, better writing.

I will try to get the first chapter out this weekend. Updates will be sporadic, and I apologize for that, but I have a lot of stuff going on in my life right now, so I can't even maintain a basic, stable schedule.

If there's anything you'd like to see (aside from pairings…) in the story, or suggestions and feedback about FDCL so far, I would be happy to hear them.

Also note that I plan on removing FDCL once I get underway with the rewrite, just in case you balk at the author's note chapters.


	8. Rewrite is up!

Hey all!

The first chapter of the rewrite of this story, Unforeseen Consequences, is up! Enjoy!

To find it, simply click on the "Animus of Masada" link above, then scroll down to the story.


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